A Second Chance
by 0-Blazing Sun-0
Summary: When Blake Marshall is killed by a random mugger, two mysterious beings approach him and offer him a second chance, living among their people. What new adventures and hardships await him? Read and find out! Rated M for violence and some possible clop in later chapters.
1. Prolouge

**A/N - Hi there everypony! This is my first story submission, and criticism is appreciated; all I ask is that it remain courteous and polite. I hope you all enjoy, there's plenty more where this came from!**

Darkness… that was the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes. I wasn't sure if I had somehow gone blind, or if all the lights were out, but I could tell that my eyes were definitely open. My first thought was that this was some sort of dream, a thought that was reinforced when small points of light began to slowly fade into existence. Along with them came cloud-like wisps of varying colors, shapes and sizes. From what I could tell, I was floating in space, which is why I believed this to be a dream, as I knew that was impossible.

I was broken from my contemplation on this by two more shapes that faded into existence right in front of me. One looked to be a soft white, and the other was a deep blue, and the only reason I could distinguish it from the blackness behind it was due to it materializing between myself and one of those nebulous wisps that I had seen a moment ago.

I was truly shocked when the shapes materialized into what appeared to be unicorns that were standing in front of me. The one on the left that had been the white shape was about the same height as me, putting it at just under two meters tall. It had a pale white coat with a long mane and tail that was striped with pink, blue, purple, and turquoise, and soft magenta eyes, all in pastel colors. It was also wearing jewelry and it had what appeared to be some sort of crown or tiara on its head, as well as what looked like a breastplate or maybe a thick necklace. Both were made of gold and had a single amethyst set in them. It also had some kind of hoofcaps on its hooves that were made out of a pale yellow metal I couldn't identify, maybe an alloy of gold and some other metal.

The other one was maybe thirty centimeters shorter than me and had a midnight blue coat. Its mane and tail were dark blue with sparkles in it and a lighter blue outline with a single pale blue lock of hair hanging down the left side of its face. It had cobalt blue eyes and was wearing similar jewelry to the one next to it, except that its crown and necklace were both black and didn't have and stones set in them. However the necklace did have a depiction of a crescent moon on it and its hoofcaps were a bluish gray color. Both of their manes and tails seemed to be billowing, as if in a breeze, even though there was no wind as far as I could tell.

"This dream just gets more and more surreal by the minute" I said under my breath.

"I can assure you that you are not dreaming, Blake Marshall" I jumped a bit as the white unicorn spoke to me in a soft, yet authoritative woman's voice.

"Ok, if I'm not dreaming, then why am I talking to a pair of _unicorns_ in _space_ that somehow know my name, despite the fact that I haven't introduced myself?" I wasn't ready for the answer the smaller unicorn presented.

"You are not here because you are dreaming; you are here because your time on Earth has come to its end. This realm is not the depths of space, as it appears to be. It is in fact a plane between this life and the next, a place I believe humans refer to as 'Limbo.' As for how we know your name, we have been watching you for quite some time."

I was stunned, my mind was screaming at me that this was just some weird dream, but something in my heart told me that what these two had told me was true, like I already knew it but didn't want to admit it. "However, we are being rude" the white unicorn said, "We know much about you, but you know nothing about us. I am Princess Celestia, and this is my sister, Princess Luna. Together we are the rulers of a realm known as Equestria."

"And to clear up a misconception," the smaller unicorn, who had been introduced as Princess Luna, added, "We are not unicorns, we are Alicorns." As if to emphasize her point, both flared the wings that had been tucked against their bodies out of my view.

Ok, I had heard of Alicorns before, I've seen decorative statues and other trinkets depicting them every so often, so I knew what they were talking about. What I was having trouble wrapping my head around was the fact that I had two of them in front of me, basically telling me I was dead and in Limbo for some reason. To make matters worse, something was telling me that I should believe them. "Ok, I really have no idea what's going on here right now. My mind is telling me that everything I'm seeing is part of some kind of dream or hallucination, but my heart says that you're telling the truth, and I've learned to trust my heart. So I'll bite for now. If I really am dead, what are we doing here? I mean, I doubt I'm here in Limbo conversing with two mythical beings just for kicks."

I was still understandably skeptical, but if this really was just a dream, I'd just wake up from it eventually, and if not… well, I hadn't thought that far ahead. Princess Celestia smiled, "You're quite correct Blake Marshall, we're not here to simply converse, we're here to offer you an opportunity."

"One might call it an opportunity of a lifetime." Princess Luna added, with a mischievous smile and giggle.

"Ok, if you've really been keeping an eye on me and really know as much about me as you claim, then you should already know that I don't agree to things unless I know what I'm agreeing to." I said, wondering what they could possibly have to offer that I might want.

Princess Celestia shocked me again when she said "A wise decision for anypony to make, and yes, we _are_ aware of this, which is why we have come here to personally explain our offer to you. We have brought you here because we wish to offer you a second chance at life."

Princess Luna then added, "We have been watching you for quite some time, and we feel you are deserving of this chance. However, you are by no means being forced to do this, you are free to move to the next life if you so choose."

I was overjoyed, "You're going to send me back to be with my loved ones, why would I say no to that?!"

However, my hopes were quickly crushed when Princess Luna shook her head and said "You misunderstand, as I stated before, your time on Earth has come to its end, and it would take a power far greater than we possess to return you there. What we are offering you is a new life, on _our_ world, living in the realm of Equestria. I know that that is not what you wished to hear, but we would like you to at least consider it."

My happiness was quickly replaced with anger, and I didn't speak until I had that anger in check, "Not to seem rude, but why would I want to live in this 'Equestria'? What benefit is there for any of us by me doing this?"

Princess Celestia replied this time, "The benefit for you is a new life, with new friends and loved ones to share it with, and a wealth of new experiences not found on Earth. I can guarantee you that we are not the only beings on our world that are no more than myths to your people. The benefit for us, however, is somewhat more complicated. You see, humans lived alongside us at one point in our history, then they vanished with scarcely a trace, and it has only been recently that we've rediscovered them on the world you call Earth. What we want is to see if we can live together once more after so much time has passed for both of our peoples. And perhaps, with your help, discover why humanity vanished off the face of Mythis nearly five thousand years ago."

My mind was having trouble processing this. According to these two, Earth isn't the homeworld of humanity like we thought it was, that we actually originated on this 'Mythis', and that we somehow mysteriously just vanished from one world and appeared on another. Though in a strange way, it made sense. It would explain the explosion of civilization, as well as the origin of some; if not all of our ancient myths, assuming what Celestia had said was true.

I decided to put that thought aside for now and move things along; I thought that if I got more answers, it might help clear things up. "Okay, I'm just going to put questions about that on the backburner for now and press on. I guess my next question would have to be; why me? What's so special about me that you chose me out of over seven _billion_ other humans?"

Both princesses smiled at this and Princess Celestia answered. "That's because you hold many attributes that we believe exemplify your species, such as kindness, generosity, devotion, and compassion, to name but a few. While at the same time you also make mistakes, like any other sentient being. You are willing to not only learn from those mistakes, but also to guide others in avoiding those same mistakes. As well as learn from the mistakes of others."

I couldn't help but chuckle at that. "If that's what you think humanity is about, then you must not have been watching our world very closely, humans are cruel, greedy, selfish and violent."

Their smiles didn't fade, and it was Princess Luna's turn to speak. "This is true for many humans, but not all. Like you, there are others who share the capacity for good, but after watching these individuals, we felt you to be the best qualified to be the first to attempt a reintegration of our two species. In addition to your other qualities, you hold a unique quality that very few humans possess; a mind open to new experiences and ideas."

I nodded my head, "That makes sense, most people would still be freaking out about either being told they're dead or talking to a pair of Alicorns. I suppose my last question would have to be; how did I die? I mean I don't want to seem like I'm doubting your word, I just don't remember it, and I would think something like that would be hard to forget."

Both princesses frowned and looked at each other for a moment before turning back to me. Princess Luna was the first to speak, "To be honest, we do not know, although you should possess that memory. However, it would seem your mind has repressed it in death, meaning that your demise was a traumatic one. If you are willing, I can unblock that memory in your mind."

I was nervous, but at the same time, I wanted to know just what happened. "What's the catch?" I asked, having picked up on a hint of uncertainty in Princess Luna's voice.

There seemed to be a flash of apprehension across her face before she responded. "The 'catch', as you call it, is two-fold. First, you must understand that I will experience everything as you do, and there may be something private in this memory that you would wish to remain so. Secondly, there is no way for me to re-block the memory once it is unblocked, meaning that whatever choice you make after, you will always remember your demise."

I was silent for awhile, weighing the pros and cons in my mind. Finally, I came to my decision. "Alright Princess, I'd like you to unblock the memory. I would rather know what happened than spend the rest of time wondering."

Princess Luna slowly walked over to me; her horn was coated with a gently billowing cerulean aura. "Please kneel Blake Marshall, my horn must make contact with your forehead in order for the spell to work." The Princess said when she reached me.

I did as she asked and got down on one knee. Although I'm not sure at what point I went from floating to standing on something solid, but with everything else that was going on, I didn't question it. "Alright Princess Luna, and please, just call me Blake."

She smiled and replied "Thank you Blake, that will suffice. And you may refer to me simply as Luna if you wish. Now, if you are ready, we shall begin." I nodded and she touched her horn to my head.

My vision flashed white and I was suddenly back on Earth. My wife and I were leaving a movie theater and were headed back to our car. I realized I had no control over myself, I was only watching the events replay in my mind, and so I couldn't change anything, which made sense with this being a memory. I remember us laughing and talking about how good we both thought the movie was and what we each liked about it. Though for some reason I couldn't remember what movie it was, probably because it wasn't important to the memory.

We rounded the corner of the building and made our way towards our car. The lighting on this side of the building seemed poor, and that made me nervous. We froze in place as we heard a voice behind us, "All ya hafta do is gimme your wallets and jewelry, and this doesn't have to get messy."

The voice was accompanied by a series of clicks that, being somewhat of a firearms buff, I quickly identified as the sound of a revolver's hammer being drawn back and the cylinder rotating and locking into place. The sound made my blood run cold.

We turned around to face our mugger, who looked like just some guy who was down on his luck, wearing grimy torn clothes and an unkempt beard and hair that showed he hadn't washed properly in ages. He held his gun out at arm's length, swinging it between us like he didn't know who he should be worried about. In truth, he should have been worried about me, because I had a concealed pistol of my own, even though I knew I'd never have time to draw it and bring it to bear before he shot me dead.

I knew guys like this, they were desperate and they'd kill their victims to keep them from acting as witnesses if they were caught and brought to trial. I had to act fast if I was to have any hope of saving my wife. I only had one option available to me at the time, and that was to rush him and try to get the gun away from him before he had time to react. As soon as he swiveled his gun away from my wife to turn it on me again, I lunged at him and grabbed his wrist with my right hand while pulling back my left to strike him in the face. I saw a flash and felt a blinding pain in my chest, but I ignored it for the split second it took to swing my fist forward and connect with his jaw.

Fortunately my aim was true and I hit him in the sweet spot right in front of his ear and he crumpled to the ground, unconscious. Unable to properly control my body, I continued moving forward and stumbled over him and the next thing I saw was the pavement rushing up to meet me. I could hear my wife screaming, but it sounded far away, and then I felt myself being turned over and cradled.

I could see my wife crying while she cradled my head and I could faintly hear her begging me not to die. I reached my hand up to stroke her cheek and whispered "It'll be alright sweetheart; you just need to be strong."

I could still her begging and pleading, but it was getting fainter and I could tell it wouldn't be much longer. My hand slipped from her cheek when I lost the strength to hold it there and she grabbed it and held it tight, sobbing even harder. My vision began to fade, and everything went black. As my consciousness faded, I had one last lucid thought; "_Please don't let her suffer because of me, even if she has to forget me._" I knew then and now what that meant to me. I didn't believe in a higher power, so the only afterlife for me was in the memory of loved ones, and to be forgotten would mean that I would cease to exist.

My vision flashed white again and I was back in Limbo with the princesses. Luna was on her knees with tears streaming down her face from wide open eyes and she was breathing heavily. Celestia had knelt beside her and was offering her moral support, while looking back and forth worriedly between us. Luna looked at me and asked "I… I do not understand, how could you not only sacrifice yourself so selflessly, but do so knowing that there would be no afterlife for you according to your own beliefs?"

I smiled and answered her, "Because it was the right thing to do, and I couldn't just stand by and allow one that I loved be hurt when I could prevent it."

She shook her head to clear it and stood next to Celestia before speaking again, "You had a similar device to the one your attacker possessed, why did you not use it to defend yourself?"

I expected this question at some point. "Because I could see that there wouldn't be time for me to do so. If he noticed me reaching for it before I got it out and ready to use, he would have had plenty of time to kill me before I could do so, so I chose to rush him and take him by surprise before he had time to react. It would appear that that tactic worked out about as well as I had hoped. It was the only solution I could see to save my wife from suffering the same fate that I did."

Celestia spoke up this time, "It has been a long time since I've heard of such a noble act, and I truly commend you for your bravery and your sacrifice. Although I did not witness the events of your memory as Luna did, I can tell by her reaction that it was quite traumatic indeed. However, the time has come and you must now choose whether you wish to take our offer of a new life, or ascend to the next as you would have, had this meeting not happened."

I had almost forgotten about that. I thought for only a moment before I replied. "Alright, I accept your offer, I don't feel ready yet to move on to the next life and I would like to keep living as a mortal for awhile longer. Besides, seeing a new world full of creatures that are mere myths on Earth sounds exciting."

The princesses smiled widely at this and Luna spoke. "We are very glad to hear that this is your choice, however, there is one thing that must be done first. In your possession are all the objects that were with you at the time of your demise, and you must choose what to take and what to leave behind. Though you should know that any items you decide to leave here will be lost forever and you will be unable to retrieve them later."

I nodded and looked down at myself for the first time, and I was indeed carrying the same things I had with me, I even had on the same outfit: a dark blue button-up shirt, minus the blood and bullet hole, and blue jeans with my favorite hiking boots. I liked these boots, not only because they served their intended purpose while I was hiking or camping; but they were the only pair I could find with both a polymer shank in the sole for support as well as a polymer cap in the toe that served as a lightweight replacement for steel toes. Steel-toes had become my favorite kind of shoe or boot thanks to nearly a decade of wearing them to work as a construction worker.

I began rummaging through my pockets to pull out everything in them to decide what to take. In the end, I decided to take: my pocket knife, the multitool I always had clipped to my belt, again thanks to my construction job, my wallet, my Altoids tin survival kit, and my pocket flashlight. I decided to leave behind my keys, because well, I didn't have a car or a house or anything else that they could be used for, though I did take the carabineer clip in case I got more.

The last item that I needed to decide whether or not to take was the pistol that I had with me. I looked up to the princesses, honestly unsure whether or not they would approve of me taking such a potentially dangerous thing into their realm. "Okay, I've made my decisions on everything else, now I just need to decide whether or not to take this." I held up the holstered pistol as I said that.

Princess Celestia seemed confused as to what it was, but Luna seemed to recognize it almost instantly. "It is entirely up to you as to whether or not you feel you would need such a device." Luna said, "However, most of the inhabitants of Equestria, save for some of its wild creatures, are not inherently dangerous, and there would likely be little need for such a drastic means of self defense."

I nodded my head. "Alright, then I believe I'll leave it here." And with that I placed it and the spare magazine for it that I kept in my pocket to the side along with my keys. I sincerely hoped that they were right and I wouldn't need it.

The princesses looked to each other for a moment, as if confirming with other that my choice was the right one, before looking back to me. "Alright, if you are happy with your choices, we can send you to our realm now. You will be sent to the home of Twilight Sparkle, my personal student, who has been made aware of your imminent arrival." Princess Celestia informed me.

I nodded my head indicating that I was indeed satisfied with the choices I had made and was ready to go. With this, both of their horns were covered in billowing auras, Luna's in the same blue as before, and Celestia's in a pale golden aura. I looked down to see that I was being engulfed by those same auras, intermingling with each other and surrounding me. They felt warm and made me feel at ease, like the warmth of the soft spring sun mixed with the calm of a clear winter night.

The light surrounding me grew brighter and I could tell that whatever was going to happen was going to happen soon. As the light got almost too bright to see through, I saw… something… flash behind the princesses. They must have sensed whatever it was because I heard Luna ask "Sister, did you feel that?! It could not be-"

Luna was cut off mid-sentence when the light surrounding me hummed and flashed, and I blacked out.


	2. New Friends

**A/N – Welcome back! Just a few quick announcements for everypony today. First, I'd like to thank all those who gave my story a read and favorite it, you're awesome! Secondly, I'd like to mention that I intend to keep a regular update schedule of early Tuesday mornings for the foreseeable future, so stay tuned if you like my story. Last but not least, I received a request from user ****princessanastasiaromanov464**** to make mention of an issue; unfortunately, after speaking with a moderator about such an action, I've found out that what I can post about the issue is limited, so I apologize in advance for that. The issue stems from a captive Orca named Lolita; all I can do is give you that tiny bit of information and ask that you research the topic if you're interested. Those are all my announcements for this week; barring some major catastrophe (like a zombie apocalypse) I'll have a new post next Tuesday. Hope to see you all then!**

I came to sometime later feeling like I had drunk myself stupid after losing an MMA bout… _badly_. My eyes were closed, but I could tell I was on my back. I could feel something soft underneath me, likely grass from the feel of it, and something warm on my front. I immediately regretted my decision to open my eyes as I was greeted by the sun shining into them from directly above me. I immediately closed them again and covered them with my hand as I let out a grunt of pain. Well, that explained the warmth.

My actions seemed to have drawn someone's attention as I heard a young woman's voice from somewhere off to my left, "Are you okay, mister?" She asked me.

I groaned and tried to sit up, but I felt very weak, and I couldn't bring myself to get to a sitting position, so I decided to just lay there and let myself recover. I could still remember fragments of that crazy dream, but something was telling me it was more than that. The pain I felt when I relived that supposed memory was too real to be something from any dream.

"Ooh, My head…" I groaned. "That must've been one helluva party last night." I could feel something poke me in the shoulder; it felt hard, but it was only poking me gently, so it didn't hurt.

The woman spoke again, "What party was that mister? I don't think Pinkie Pie had a party planned for yesterday." She sounded close; she must've been kneeling next to me.

I chuckled a bit. "I wish I could tell you, I don't remember anything from yesterday besides going to see a movie with my wife. Then I had some crazy dream that I died and two creatures wanted to take me to another world."

"Wow, that does sound like a really crazy dream. Hey mister, what's a 'movie'?" She asked; the confusion obvious in her voice.

This caused me to be confused as well; how could she not know what a movie is? I decided to see who I've been talking to, so I used the hand covering my eyes to instead shield them from the sun so I could open them. Once my eyes adjusted to the light somewhat, I looked around as best I could, still not really being able to move very well.

I appeared to be in a field of some sort from what I could tell, and the only thing near me besides a tree was a small pony with a grey coat and a blonde mane… Unusual, but not impossible I supposed, especially if it had been dyed that way by the pony's owner. The most striking feature about it however, was its eyes. Not only were they _huge_, but they were a deep orange at the top that faded to yellow at the bottom. It also had the single worst case of wall-eye I've ever seen, the right eye appeared to be focused on me, and the other was looking somewhere up above it.

"Well hey there, who might you be?" I asked the pony in a cheery voice, thinking it might have wandered away from its owner. I didn't expect an answer, I had just asked in an attempt to earn its trust, the way you would a dog or other critter.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Derpina Hooves, but my friends call me Derpy, so you can too." She said, smiling at me.

I was shocked, this pony just spoke to me, and in that young woman's voice no less! With my brain still trying to figure out what was going on, I decided to play along for now. "Hi… uh, Derpy." I said, not sure what to make of her name. "My name's Blake. Do you know where we are right now?" I hoped if I could find out where I was that it might help me figure out what was going on.

Derpy looked at me… I think, and then replied, "Sure, we're in the public park in Ponyville. You must be new here, is there someplace specific you need to go?" She seems eager to help at least.

"Ponyville, huh? Can't say I've ever heard of it before. What state is it in?" It was probably some small town in the south, though how did I get down south from Utah overnight?

She looked at me -I assumed her right eye was where she was focusing her gaze- quizzically, then asked, "What's a 'state'? Is it something outside of Equestria? I've never been outside of Equestria before." She asked.

She must think I'm some kind of foreigner. Though why did the name 'Equestria' sound so familiar? Then it hit me, I had a flash of that dream, and I remembered two Alicorns telling me they wanted to bring me to a place called Equestria. That, along with the vivid memory, must mean that it wasn't a dream, and I really did die. But why could I only remember fragments of what happened clearly?

Remembering her question about going someplace specific, I responded, "I think there was someplace I was supposed to go, but I can't seem to remember where, things are kinda hazy at the moment. And yes, I suppose you could call a state something from outside of Equestria."

Derpy looked at me sympathetically. "I'm sorry things are hazy for you. Here, have a muffin. It'll cheer you up if nothing else." She said with a smile while reaching into one of a pair of packs she had draped across her back. I had somehow missed them before; and if I had to guess, I'd call them saddlebags, but that somehow didn't seem right.

I reached out and took the muffin from her hoof; how she managed to grab and hold it like that was a mystery to me, but like so many other things recently I decided not to question it. "Uhm… Thanks." I said, accepting the generously given muffin, suddenly realizing I was ravenously hungry.

As I took my first bite of the still warm muffin, I tasted a mixture of different fruits. I could taste strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, and even a hint of what I thought was mulberry. "What kind of muffin is this?" I asked Derpy between bites, trying not to devour the muffin despite my hunger.

"That's my special Everyberry muffin." She replied with a grin on her face. "I just baked them this morning for a snack while I'm on my route." I was curious as to what kind of job she could have, but I was hesitant to ask.

I smiled at her, noticing that the muffin seemed to be giving me a boost to my strength. I still didn't think I could sit up yet, but I could now move my arms with only a little difficulty. "Thanks Derpy, that was delicious. Though I'm still feeling pretty weak, so if you don't mind, I'm just gonna lay here for a bit until I can stand up again. I appreciate you helping me like you have, but I don't want to keep you from your job."

She looked at me quizzically for a moment then nodded. "Ok Blake, if you think you'll be ok by yourself. I'll stop by later to see how you are." She looked up at the sun for a moment, then over to the tree before looking back to me, "Do you want me to help you over to the tree so you can have some shade? I'd hate for you to get sunburned."

I hadn't thought about that, and it was a good idea. "I'd appreciate that a lot Derpy, though I'm not sure how much help I'll be. So far all I seem to be able to manage is to move my head and limbs a bit, I can't even sit up on my own."

She smiled again and moved to help me up. "That's ok, us pegasai are stronger than we look, so it shouldn't be a problem." She wrapped a hoof around my neck and positioned herself to allow me to do the same. When I got up into a sitting position, I noticed the wings on her side that had been hidden by her bags before.

Derpy hoisted me onto her back and grunted under my weight, I was obviously heavier than she had thought, but she was making a valiant effort to not show it. We were almost to the tree, which I guessed was only around fifteen feet away when we started, and was now closer to five, when Derpy tripped on something. She went crashing to the ground and I rolled off of her back and onto my left side, feeling a sharp pain in my arm.

It felt like I had landed on a rock or protruding root, but the pain was manageable, so I ignored it for the moment. "Derpy, are you ok?" I asked worriedly, looking over to where she had fallen. Fortunately I had landed just a couple of feet away, so it was easy to spot her.

She was rubbing her snout with a hoof and had her eyes squinted with tears welling up in them, so I guessed she had landed on her nose when she fell. I tried to maneuver closer to her, but in my weakened state, it was slow going. She looked over to me and immediately came over to try to help me back up. "Sorry about that Blake, sometimes I can be clumsy." She said apologetically.

I smiled warmly at her and did my best to climb back onto her. "There's no need to apologize Derpy." I said comfortingly. "It could have happened to anyone, that doesn't necessarily make you clumsy. Plus, I'm just glad you're ok." I told her honestly.

She smiled at my words and finished carrying me to the tree. When we got there, she used her wings almost like arms to help me off of her back and up against the trunk of the tree. When we had worked me into a sitting position against the tree, she smiled at me and turned to leave. "I need to get back to my route; this mail won't deliver itself ya know!" She smiled even brighter and added, "It was nice meeting you Blake, I'll be back later if you're still here."

I chuckled and said, "Oh, I'm sure I will be, I doubt I'll be going anywhere for awhile." She waved and took off. I watched her for a moment before leaning my head back against the trunk and closing my eyes, intending to take a nap.

A moment later I felt something warm and furry wrap itself around me. I opened my eyes again to see that it was Derpy, hugging me tightly. She seemed to be sniffling a bit, and I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her back as tightly as I could manage.

"Thank you Blake." She said as she tightened her hug. "You're the first one to call me Derpy…" She released her hug, and when she backed away, she was smiling; but I could see that she had indeed been crying. Before I could ask her what was wrong, she took off in the direction she had been heading before.

I sat there and pondered what she had said; I was the first to call her Derpy. Suddenly, something she had said earlier came to my thoughts; _my friends call me Derpy_. But she had said that I was the first to call her that… The realization hit me like a barrel of bricks; Derpy had never had any friends before.

I was saddened by this, how could anyone not like a sweet pony like her? But at the same time I was happy that I could be her friend; and that we had been each other's first friend here. I smiled slightly at that thought as I drifted off to sleep.

As I dreamed, I thought about what had just happened, about the sensations I had had, and how real they were: the soft feel of the grass, the warmth of the sun, even the feel of Derpy's hoof; which had been hard, but not as hard as a real horse's, almost like rubber. And her coat, which had a plush, downy feel to it; like a greyhound's coat but shorter.

I still wasn't entirely convinced that this was really happening, but I believed it more and more; this was way too vivid to be a dream, and I never touched anything that would cause me to hallucinate.

I was awakened sometime later by the feeling of something hard poking me in the chest. I groggily opened my eyes to see a different pony in front of me. My vision was still somewhat blurry, but I could see that this definitely wasn't Derpy. "Hey dude, are you ok?" The new pony asked me in a feminine voice.

The pony in front of me had a white coat with a messy, two-tone electric blue mane and tail. I couldn't see her eyes as they were being covered by a pair of purple, oval sunglasses. I also noticed a horn sticking out of her forehead, leading me to believe she was a unicorn.

She was looking at me with what I assumed was a worried look. "Yeah, I think I'm alright." I said as I shut my eyes and stretched. My eyes shot open again as I realized that I could move again. "Well that's convenient, looks like a muffin and a nap was all I needed." I said with a smile.

The pony's expression shifted to what looked like a confused one. "All you needed for what, dude?" she asked.

I chuckled as I thought about what she'd say if I told her the truth. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Let's just say things have been unbelievably crazy lately."

The white pony chuckled as well. "I hear ya, had my fair share of craziness too. Name's Vinyl Scratch by the way."

"Nice to meet you Vinyl, I'm Blake." I said as I extended my hand towards her to shake. Vinyl looked at my hand for a moment before realizing what I was doing and extended her hoof to do the same.

Once we broke the shake, Vinyl appeared to look me over a little more thoroughly. "Can't say I've seen you around Ponyville before, you new in town?" she asked with an unreadable expression.

I nodded, "You could say that. Just got in today, I think…" I said trailing off as I realized I had no idea how long I had been laying in that field before Derpy had originally woken me up.

Vinyl cocked her head in a questioning manner. "What's that s'posed to mean?" She asked, obviously confused.

Unfortunately I had no easy answers, as I wasn't entirely sure myself. I was somewhat coming to terms with this being my new reality, but I still couldn't remember everything, and I still didn't remember all the details of my meeting with the princesses, even some of what had come before was fuzzy in my mind. "Honestly, I'm not entirely sure myself, most of my memory is pretty hazy right now. I'm actually not even sure how long I was in this field before Derpy found me." I told her.

"Wait, wait, wait… you met with Derpy?! As in Derpina Hooves!?" She asked, sounding worried. It seemed to me like she was afraid of Derpy for some reason, although I couldn't see why. She was so likeable, and had even helped me without hesitation, even though she knew next to nothing about me.

It was my turn to give Vinyl a questioning look. "Yeah, she gave me a muffin and even helped me over to this tree so I'd be out of the sun. Why, is she some kind of criminal or something?" I asked, somewhat annoyed at the way Vinyl reacted to Derpy.

This apparently shocked her, based on the look on her face. "No no, nothin' like that. She's just… Klutzy… Bad things tend to happen around her, not that any of it's her fault. Let's put it this way, not too long ago, she accidentally almost destroyed town hall. We're still not sure how either."

I nodded my head in understanding. "Well, I can see why that might be cause for concern, but I don't think that's a good reason to avoid her. She was very kind to me when I needed it, and that kind of character is all that counts in my book."

Vinyl looked down at the ground sheepishly and drew small circles in the dirt with her hoof, embarrassed. "Yeah, you're right…" She said dejectedly "Just 'cause she can be a klutz doesn't make it right to avoid her. It's not fair to her."

I smiled at this. "Hey, we all make mistakes, what's important is that you _learn_ from those mistakes and don't repeat them." She seemed to perk up at this. She looked back up at me and smiled.

"Thanks Blake. You're a pretty cool… umm, stallion?" she asked, suddenly unsure. "I never even thought to ask _what_ you are; you're obviously not a pony."

I chuckled at this. "Yeah, I'm kinda unclear on all that stuff too. I'm a human, and a male human is called a 'man'. 'Guy' is a fairly widely used slang term, and would be appropriate here. Though since as far as I can tell, I'm the only human around, it'll probably just be easier for you to use whatever terms you normally would, and I'll try to adapt to using them too." It made sense as I thought about it, after all, it would be easier for me to get used to their way of speaking than it would be for them to get used to mine. Not to mention it would be pretty arrogant to ask that they change _their_ society to make things easier for me.

"Human, huh? Thought you were just myths." She said, seeming to take that thought in stride. "I have a friend that I know would _love_ to meet a living, breathing human. If you're up for it, I can take you to meet her, even give you a bit of a tour of Ponyville in the process." She smiled as she said this.

I thought about it for a moment, and realizing I had nothing better to do –that I could remember at least- I replied, "Sure, but let's take it slow, I'm not sure how I'll do on my feet yet."

She looked at me quizzically again. "That reminds me, earlier you said Derpy had to help you to the tree. Why couldn't you get there on your own, are you hurt?" She suddenly sounded worried again.

I shook my head. "No, I'm not hurt. I don't know why yet, but when Derpy woke me up the first time, I was very weak. I couldn't even bring myself to sit up on my own. But after I ate the muffin she gave me and had a nap, I feel much better. That reminds _me_, how long was I out?" I asked, suddenly realizing that I had no idea how long I had slept for.

Quickly finding the sun, I used an old trick my dad taught me to see how many hours had passed. By using four fingers held straight out, with the width of all four being roughly one hour of the sun's movement, I figured that I had slept for just about two and a half hours against the tree. And boy, could I feel it.

"What the hay was that about?" Vinyl asked seeming confused. It made sense, since she didn't have fingers, she couldn't use that trick. I doubted any pony could for that matter.

I smiled. "Just a trick my dad taught me." I held up my hand again like I had before. "See, the width from edge to edge is about one hour of movement of the sun in the sky. So if I count how many times I can fit my hand between two specific points, I can determine how long I have from one point to the other, like how many hours have passed since the last time I checked, or how long until sunset." She seemed really interested in what I was showing her, though I couldn't tell if it was actually what I was explaining or just the fact that I had hands.

"Whoa, that's pretty cool dude, kinda makes me wish I had hands, though my magic is still pretty useful." She broke her gaze away from me for a moment and looked up at the sky before looking back to me.

Deciding that I had been on the ground for long enough, I decided to try and stand up. It was slow, difficult going, but I managed to get to a kneeling position that I could stand from. As I started to rise, I was hit with a wave of vertigo, and almost toppled over. I heard a strange sound as I started falling, then I felt myself being lifted upright again. I looked over to Vinyl to see that her horn was glowing with a familiar billowing aura that was light blue, the same color as the lighter streaks in her hair. I then looked down at myself to see that I was coated in the same aura.

"You ok?" Vinyl asked as she gently righted me and held me in place until my head cleared and I could stand on my own.

I smiled at her and nodded. "Yeah, thanks for the save." I tested my balance by shifting my weight to make sure I wouldn't fall over again. I was still a bit shaky, but I could manage. "I should be fine now, just got a bit of vertigo from standing up too fast." My smile widened a bit as I realized I could now stand on my own, even if I was still a little weak.

Vinyl chuckled. "No prob." Her expression suddenly turned to a worried one. "You sure you're ok? We don't have to go right now if you don't think you're up for it." It was refreshing to see this kind of concern for someone, especially when that someone was essentially a stranger.

"Thanks Vinyl, but I'll be ok. Besides, I think getting up and moving around will help build my strength back up. If nothing else, it might help jog my memory so I can at least remember where I'm supposed to go. So, first thing's first, why don't we go meet this friend of yours?"

She smiled and nodded her head once. "Sure, sounds like a plan to me. Let's go!" She said, heading towards a path a short way off that I hadn't seen before.

I followed close beside her. As we walked, the path moved along the edge of some woods to our left. We made some small talk along the way, mostly just getting to know one another. It turns out that Vinyl is Ponyville's resident DJ. She has her own recording studio and everything. I wonder just how advanced technology is here. "There's Fluttershy's cottage." She said suddenly, pointing to a homely looking cottage ahead of us and bring my mind back to the present. "She's kind of the resident veterinarian, she's _really_ shy though."

As we moved closer to the cottage, I noticed several birdhouses and various feeders and shelters around the cottage. It would seem that she does more than just care for sick animals; she must also have quite a few pets herself. I also noticed that the roof of her cottage had what looked like grass growing on it. There was also a small bridge over a stream leading from an offshoot of the path we were on up to the cottage.

As we were about to pass by the bridge, we heard a sound coming from the woods near the cottage.

It was a scream…


	3. Close Call

** Guest - I guess you'll just hafta read and find out. ;)**

** GentlestCobra2 - Oh don't worry, I have plenty more written up; I plan on saving them in case I can't get a chapter written on time, that way you still get an update on time. It means a lot to me that you enjoy the story though. I also have extra in case you guys unlock one of my secret achievements, which will get you two chapters for the price of one on the next update.**

**A/N - Hi there everypony! I've got some news I'm sure you'll all love; yesterday was my birthday, and I feel like giving my readers a gift: two chapters in one update! Enjoy my little ponies.**

"That sounds like Fluttershy!" Vinyl exclaimed when we heard the scream coming from the woods near the cottage. Something in my mind snapped into place and I went into action without thinking about it. I took off over the bridge and past the cottage, towards the general direction I had heard the scream coming from. It wasn't long before I came to a small clearing in the woods, and was met with a very strange sight.

I stopped momentarily at the edge of the clearing to assess the situation. On the left side of the clearing was a pale yellow Pegasus with a long pink mane and tail cowering with her back against a small pile of logs. She appeared to be huddled over a small animal, probably a squirrel from the looks of it.

On the other side of the clearing from her and slowly approaching with a careful, predatory gait were a pair of what looked to be large wolves, only they were made of tree branches and other various bits of wood and they had green glowing eyes. There was also a foul odor in the air, like fetid plant matter.

My fight or flight response kicked in, and it was screaming _FIGHT_! I flicked my hand down to my hip with a speed that came to me through weekend upon weekend of practice; only to realize that the pistol I normally kept holstered there was gone. I suddenly remembered why as another fragment of my memory flashed in my mind for an instant and I remembered leaving it behind when I made the decision to come here. I was already regretting that decision. I hadn't wanted to kill them with it; I had instead intended to scare them away with it.

With no time to dwell on that, I quickly reached down and picked up a fist-sized rock and took aim at the creature closest to me. They hadn't noticed me yet, and I planned to change that. I hurled the rock at the creature and charged at it, the rock impacting the side of its head moments later.

The creature shook its head, apparently dazed by the rock. Both creatures then looked in my direction, and the one that had been hit by the rock snarled at me. Seeing as these creatures were made of wood, trying to use my fists would likely be a futile and painful effort, I decided to use my relatively armored feet instead.

"Timberwolves!?" I heard Vinyl shout behind me, obviously afraid. "Blake, be careful, those things are _dangerous_!" She shouted in warning. _Timberwolves, huh? An oddly fitting name_, I thought. The timberwolf closest to me lunged as I got closer and I lashed out with a vicious kick to its face. The timberwolf yelped and dropped back to the ground, but not before swiping at me with its claws, leaving lines of torn cloth and flesh across my left shoulder.

The second timberwolf attempted to circle around behind me, trying to flank me and make it easier for them to take me down. I kept my ears open for the one behind me and heard a single scrape of its claws on the ground at the same time that the one in front of me leapt again. Figuring the one behind me to have done the same, I ducked below the timberwolves and rolled to my left. The timberwolf behind me managed to score a hit with its claws along my right side before the two collided above me, causing the one that had been in front of me to collapse in a heap of disjointed parts.

The remaining timberwolf got back to its feet and snarled at me and ran straight towards me. As it closed, I prepared for it to lunge again. It had other plans, however, and feinted a lunge before springing to the left, catching me momentarily off guard. It swiped its claws at me again, and I managed to dodge with only a few more tears in my shirt.

On instinct, I threw a right hook that connected with the side of its head. I felt the bones of my hand dislodge and the skin split under the impact; but due to the adrenaline in my system, there wasn't much pain. The timberwolf shook its head, dazed, giving me the opening I needed. Planting my right foot, I spun around and, using the weight of my body combined with the strength of my leg, delivered a devastating kick; planting the heel of my boot across the side of its head as it shook it, still trying to clear its mind from the punch.

The timberwolf's head dislodged from its body and landed several feet away, its body and head crumbling to the ground in a heap like the other one had. "I um… I didn't mean to _kill _it" I said sadly, not really fond of taking life like that.

Vinyl trotted up to me, "_Dude_! That was _awesome_! I've never seen anypony take on two timberwolves and win like that!" She seemed really enthusiastic about the whole ordeal.

"I was just trying to protect those two over there." I said motioning to the pink maned Pegasus who was making her way over to me, slowly. The creature that she had been protecting was racing towards me, and turned out to be not a squirrel, but a small Pegasus. This one had an orange coat with a purple mane and tail, with its mane being relatively short and unkempt and having darker purple eyes.

"That was _amazing_ mister!" the little pony shouted in a somewhat tomboyish sounding voice as she ran excitedly around me. "I'm Scootaloo, what's your name?" she asked, still running circles around me.

I chuckled at her antics. "My name's Blake" I replied simply.

"It's nice ta meet ya, Mister Blake!" She exclaimed as the yellow Pegasus got to where we were all at.

"Th-thank you for saving us… M-my name's Fl-Fluttershy…" the yellow Pegasus said in a quiet voice, introducing herself. Her aquamarine eyes seemed to be full of innocence. "Don't worry about the timberwolves, they'll pull themselves together eventually and make their way back into the Everfree Forest." Fluttershy said softly.

I was relieved to hear this; even though they were threatening both Fluttershy and Scootaloo, they were only looking for food, and I hadn't wanted to kill them over something like that. I didn't have long to think about what had just happened though, as the adrenaline in my system began to wear off and I felt the pain of all the injuries I had just received. The most notable of these was the one to my side, running diagonally across my ribcage, the pain was so intense that it caused my right leg to become weak, causing me to clutch the area with my left hand and drop to my right knee. My hand was met with a warm, sticky liquid, and I knew that I was bleeding, badly.

"Oh my, you're hurt!" Fluttershy exclaimed quietly. "We should get you back to my cottage. I have medical supplies there, so we can get you patched up." She seemed to be really concerned about me, I hoped I wasn't injured as badly as I thought; otherwise I might be in trouble.

I tried to stand back up, but the pain intensified every time I tried. On the third try, I managed to stand, but I was already breathing hard from both the exertion and the pain, and wasn't sure how far I could walk. Vinyl had a concerned look on her face. "You think you'll be ok to walk back to Fluttershy's cottage? I can carry you with my magic if you need me too."

"I think it would be best if you did carry him… if you don't mind that is." Fluttershy said, concerned. "If he walks there himself, he might make his injuries worse. Plus he'll lose blood faster if he walks."

Vinyl nodded her head and her horn began to glow, and I was surrounded in her magic and lifted off the ground. The four of us made our way to Fluttershy's cottage, which fortunately wasn't too far away, as I couldn't tell how badly I was bleeding. Fluttershy opened the door to her cottage and Vinyl carried me inside. Fluttershy looked over at me as Vinyl set me on a small couch in the main room of the cottage. "You'll need to take your shirt off so I can treat your wounds… umm, if that's alright with you that is." She said, timidly.

I nodded and started undoing the buttons of my shirt with my left hand, trying to be as careful as I could to not aggravate my wounds. I got the shirt unbuttoned with relatively little difficulty, but the wounds on my shoulder and especially my side made taking it off all but impossible. Suddenly my shirt was engulfed in a light blue glow and I looked over to Vinyl to see her horn glowing with a small smile on her face.

My shirt peeled off my bloodied side and Fluttershy gasped as she got a good look at my wound. "Oh my… this is worse than I thought. I don't think I can fix this. I'm sorry, I'll do what I can, but I've never seen an injury this bad before." She said with a sorrowful expression.

Vinyl walked over to us and looked at my side. "Whoa dude, that looks nasty…" she said as she raised her glasses with a hoof, revealing crimson eyes. "Do you wanna see it for yourself?" She asked, looking up to me.

I was apprehensive, I honestly didn't want to see it, but it would be better if I did; I needed to know how bad off I was and what could be done to fix it. I looked at her and nodded my head slightly, indicating to her that I did. Without saying anything, she looked over to a nearby table and levitated a small mirror over to me. I took the mirror from her and nodded my thanks. Using my left hand, I positioned the mirror to see my side. My eyes widened, it was bad indeed, the wolf's claws had gone clear through the muscle and my rib bones had visible gouges in them, though fortunately the bleeding seemed to have slowed somewhat.

Scootaloo spoke up for the first time during the conversation at this point. "I think I might know someone who might be able to help us." Vinyl and Fluttershy turned their attention to the little orange Pegasus, "Do you know where Zecora lives?" She asked Vinyl.

Vinyl shook her head. "Shouldn't we take him to Ponyville General so the docs there can treat him?" She asked Fluttershy, making a valid point; trained physicians _would_ be able to fix this.

Fluttershy shook her own head at this. "That _would_ be a good idea, unfortunately it's on the opposite side of town from here, and poor Blake's been through enough as it is. I'm afraid if we move him much more in this condition, it might be too much for him…" The yellow Pegasus said sadly.

This caused a look of worry over both Scootaloo's and Vinyl's faces before Fluttershy spoke again. "I think Scootaloo is right, Zecora is the only one who can help us. I'll go and tell her what happened and bring her here. You two stay here with Blake and make sure he stays awake. Vinyl, I'll also need you to bandage his side so he loses as little blood as possible. My medical supplies are in the closet in the next room." She said as she gestured to the room in question with her hoof, a sudden change coming over her. She seemed far more determined than before.

Vinyl nodded and gave a salute. Fluttershy smiled and said; "Good, I'll be back as quickly as I can. Please be careful Blake, I'd hate to see anything happen to you…" She walked out the door, off to get this 'Zecora' as she said this. I hoped she would return soon, as I was already feeling the effects of the blood loss.

Vinyl trotted into the room with the medical supplies and returned a moment later with them levitating by her side. She opened the box and pulled out a bottle of clear liquid and a roll of gauze, along with a few gauze pads. I identified the liquid to be rubbing alcohol when she opened the bottle and I was struck by the strong scent. She then looked back to me and frowned. "This is gonna hurt dude." She said, sounding upset that she had to cause me pain.

I nodded my head and smiled. "It's ok Vi, I've been through this before, you just do what you need to do." I said as I reached and pulled my wallet out of my back pocket.

Vinyl looked at the wallet and took a step back. "Is that?!" She asked, a worried tone to her voice.

I looked at the wallet, confused for a moment before I realized what she was afraid of. "No, it's only synthetic leather, it's not real; it just looks like it is." She let out a sigh of relief and walked back over to me.

She smiled. "Well that's a relief, had me worried I'd be next for a minute." She looked over my wound for a moment, "Now, let's get to this, shall we?" She asked in a false chipper tone.

I had an idea at that point. "Hang on a sec Vi; does Fluttershy have salt, like a lot of it?" I asked, drawing a look of confusion from her. I smiled as best I could, as my condition was worsening. "It's for the wound. After you clean it out with the alcohol, I want you to load it up with salt before you cover it with the gauze."

Her expression changed from confused to horrified. "Are you _crazy_ Blake?!" she asked incredulously. "Do you have _any idea_ how much that's gonna hurt!?" She had a worried expression again, probably thinking that I had lost too much blood and I wasn't thinking clearly. This was true, but I knew that salt would stop the blood loss better than the gauze pads alone would.

I chuckled. "I may be a bit delirious from blood loss right now, but I know what I'm talking about. We need to stop this blood loss _now_, and those gauze pads alone won't cut it at this point. And yes, I know _exactly_ how much this is gonna suck, I've been through that before too, that's how I know it'll work."

She let out a sigh of resignation and went off to find salt, returning a moment later with a big canister of it in her magic. "Think this'll be enough? It's almost full." she asked, showing it to me.

I nodded. "Yeah, that should do it, though you'll probably use most of it, so I'll owe her a new can of it." She shrugged and walked back over to me.

"Alright tough guy, here we go…" she said as she walked to my right side with the medical supplies held in her magic.

We had sent Scootaloo outside to play while Vinyl worked; as we agreed she was too young to see something like this. The next several minutes felt like an eternity as Vinyl slowly and carefully irrigated the wound on my side with the alcohol, stopping occasionally to wipe a bit of debris from it with a cotton swab. This was why I had gotten my wallet out, to give me something relatively soft to bite down on and to muffle my screams of pain. I wasn't screaming yet, but I knew that would come with the next part.

Vinyl had a pained look on her face the whole time. I could tell that causing me pain like this, even if it was to save my life, was tearing her up inside. I just hoped for her sake that she'd be strong enough to pull through it. Once she was done cleaning the wound, I was breathing heavily and felt light-headed.

I looked over at the white unicorn with concern. "That was the easy part, are you sure you're up for what's next? If not, I think I can do it on my own if you wanna step outside or something." I wasn't sure I actually was though, the room had begun to spin and I wasn't sure how much longer I could hold out.

She shook her head and put on a determined face. "Nah, I can do this. Besides, I got through this much, haven't I?" Her determination to help me was heartwarming.

I nodded and put my wallet back in my mouth. _I'll probably need a new one after this, if they even exist here that is._ I thought. Vinyl steadied her breath and opened the container of salt, taking her time in pouring it over the wound, making sure it got into every nook and cranny of the jagged claw marks. I tried my best not to scream, for both Vinyl's and Scootaloo's benefits, but I didn't last long before I started. It was an involuntary reaction, and I knew Vinyl was probably hurting just as bad emotionally as I was physically.

My vision became blurry and my screams had died down to hoarse grunts when Vinyl said "There, all done. But please don't ask me to do anything like that again. Like ever…" My vision cleared slightly as the pain dulled somewhat, and I could see well enough to make out the trails of tears tracing their way down her face from beneath her sunglasses.

I weakly reached my hand out and wiped her tear trails away. "I'm sorry you had to do that Vi, if there had been another way…" I trailed off then, Vinyl smiling and nuzzling her face into my hand.

"It's ok dude, I know you needed me to. But we need to finish dressing this wound and start on the one on your shoulder." She was right; though the salt had staunched the flow of blood from my side, it still needed to be wrapped, and I was still slowly losing blood from my shoulder.

Not long after, Vinyl had wrapped my side and cleaned and dressed my shoulder, we had decided not to use the salt there, as it wasn't that bad. My hand wasn't really bleeding, but it was still dislocated. I knew how to reset it, but I didn't have the energy or the clarity to do so; Vinyl didn't know how, and she wasn't comfortable doing it herself. We decided it would be best to wait for Fluttershy and her friend to get back to help. Vinyl went outside to let Scootaloo know it was ok to come back in, but came inside shortly after to let me know the young Pegasus was nowhere to be found, probably scared off by my pained screams.

With her help, I laid down on the couch, which was more like a loveseat. Vinyl and I chatted and made small talk, trying to keep me awake, which was critical at this point; even if I did feel like sleeping for about a week. I was starting to get nervous, as staying awake was getting harder and harder by the second, and I knew if I fell asleep now, I'd likely never wake up again.

After a small lull in conversation, Vinyl spoke again. "So hey, I noticed that bracelet you have earlier, it's pretty cool. Where'd you get it?" Vinyl asked after a moment of silence.

I looked down at my left wrist to see the bracelet I had woven for myself out of about six meters of OD green paracord. My memory flashed back to my time with the princesses again, when I decided what to take and leave, but I didn't remember seeing this; I must've skipped over it somehow. I looked up at Vinyl and smiled, "I made this actually. Well, I wove it myself at least; I bought the cord that I used."

She smiled at this. "That's so cool! Do you think you could do one for me sometime?"

I chuckled, grimacing at the pain that shot from my side. "I'd love to… though I'm not sure I could get this particular type of cord here." She had a crestfallen look when I said this; well, as crestfallen as she could look through those glasses.

She perked up quickly though, "Well, what kind of cord is it? I might know where you can find some." She said with a smile back on her face.

"Well, it's a special type of cord from where I come from; it's called five-fifty paracord. It's made entirely out of nylon, and it has an outer shell surrounding inner cords, and it's _very_ strong for its diameter and weight."

Vinyl looked confused again. "What's 'nylon'?" she asked, obviously never having heard of it.

As I was about to reply, the front door opened and Fluttershy walked in, being followed by what appeared to be a zebra. Something was off though, instead of being white with black stripes, she was light grey with dark grey stripes. Her mane, which was done up in a Mohawk, and tail still appeared to be the black and white of an Earth zebra though. She also seemed to be a few inches taller than Fluttershy and Vinyl. She looked at me with her deep sapphire eyes, "Hello my friend, Zecora is my name; potions and brews are my game. If you would be so kind, please undo your bind."

She had a relatively deep voice, but it was still feminine, and the way she rhymed was interesting. I tried to sit up to comply with her request, but found the blood loss had left me too weak to do so. I suddenly found myself surrounded by a familiar blue glow as Vinyl used her magic to help me sit up. I carefully and slowly unwrapped the bandage from around my chest and side before removing the gauze pads covering the gashes. I heard a pair of gasps from Zecora and Fluttershy. Wh-what happened?" Fluttershy asked in a shocked voice.

Zecora however, seemed more impressed than anything. "What you have done is good without a doubt; the salt you have used has kept you from bleeding out.

This caused Fluttershy to gasp again. "Yo-you put _salt_ on your wound!? Oh my, didn't that hurt?" She seemed very concerned for me.

I smiled and stifled a chuckle, afraid it might cause the gashes to open further. "Like you wouldn't believe, Fluttershy. Don't worry though, most humans can tolerate quite a bit of pain. But like Zecora said, if we hadn't, I probably would've bled out by now and we wouldn't be having this conversation." The fur around her face seemed to somehow pale a little as the implications sunk in, but she didn't say anything.

Zecora walked over to me and began inspecting my side. "While it has saved your life, this salt we now must manage; so that we can see the full extent of the damage." Vinyl left the room and returned a moment later with a large glass of clean water and an empty glass suspended in her magic.

She then used her magic to pull some of the water out of the glass and used it to flush the salt out; which she then deposited in the empty glass to keep it from running all over Fluttershy's couch; which I was very grateful for, even if it did burn like crazy. After about a minute of this, the wound was clean and Zecora could see just how bad it was. It must've been, because her eyes widened at the sight of it. "My friend, you have my sincerest gratitude; to be injured like this to save a stranger shows the noblest attitude."

I just smiled at this, still feeling very weak, and without my wound being properly covered, I didn't want to waste what little energy I had left. Zecora reached into the pack she had strapped to her and pulled out a vial of strange liquid. It was blue, but had swirls of purple flowing through it. "This will hurt my friend, but will fade very soon; it will cleanse you of this dire wound. The bone and blood are a different issue; this potion can only heal the soft tissue."

I nodded to her and Vinyl levitated my poor abused wallet back into my mouth before Zecora poured the liquid on my side, and was she ever right. The pain was somewhere between the alcohol and the salt. I was glad for the wallet; being able to bite down on it kept me from screaming again, though I could feel my teeth begin to pierce the synthetic leather as I bit into it a third time.

I could hear a fizzing sound, like what you hear when you mix vinegar and baking soda together. The pain began to fade, and to my surprise, it kept fading until there was nothing left. Curious, I looked down to my side to see only a set of faint scars where the four gashes had once been. I was astonished, I knew there were unicorns with magic here, but I never expected what appeared to be magic from an herbal brew.

I smiled sheepishly, "You wouldn't happen to have enough of that left to fix my shoulder, would you?"

Zecora smiled, "You have a pure and noble heart; with more of my healing brew, I would gladly part." As she removed the cork from the bottle, Vinyl removed the dressing from my shoulder with her magic, and we repeated the process.

Once that was done, I looked up at Zecora, "Thank you so much, I have no idea how long those would've taken to heal on their own, and I doubt the muscles would've healed right." I attempted to get up to give Zecora a hug to show my gratitude, but I was still weak and light-headed from blood loss, so I didn't push myself.

She smiled warmly at me and embraced me in a hug instead. "It is you who should be thanked my friend, you saved gentle Fluttershy from a terrible end." She said as she released the hug and looked me in the eye. She smiled, "Now I must take my leave, but stop by sometime to see me; I would enjoy having a pleasant chat over tea." I nodded in agreement.

With that, Zecora walked out of the cottage, bidding her farewells to Vinyl and Fluttershy. They both then turned to me, Vinyl Smiled at me, then put her hoof to her face in what I guessed was a face-hoof; "Aww dude, we should've had her take a look at your… umm, what's it called?"

I chuckled at this, "It's called a hand, and that's alright; she got me out of danger, so I think I can let this heal on its own." She nodded in understanding.

With that, and a small measure of my strength returning, I proceeded to relocate my fingers, once again relying on the poor, abused wallet to manage the pain. Afterward, Fluttershy helped me dress my hand so it could heal properly. Vinyl looked outside, "It's getting late, and I have a gig tonight, so I need to head out. I'll catch you two later." Vinyl waved with her hoof as she left the cottage.

That left just me and Fluttershy. "You should eat something to help you replenish what you've lost today, let me make you something nutritious for dinner, then you can sleep here tonight. I'm sorry, I would let you sleep in my bed, but in your condition, I don't think you could make it up the stairs. I hope you're not mad…" Man, she really was shy.

I smiled at her. "How could I be mad at you, after all you've done for me? You've been nothing but kind to me, when I'm basically a total stranger. Besides, I've slept in worse places than a comfy couch before." I chuckled a bit and added; "Even if the comfy couch is a bit small." She seemed to perk up at this.

"Oh, I'm glad you aren't upset. I'll go make you some dinner so you can get some rest, you've had quite a day." She said as she flew off to what I assumed was the kitchen.

Fluttershy came back and offered me a large salad with cut up hard-boiled eggs and nuts, and a glass of orange juice, with a few sweet treats for dessert, and the same for herself. We chatted as we ate, and when we were both finished, she took the dishes into the kitchen, and brought me a blanket and pillow. "Goodnight Blake, thank you again for saving me and little Scootaloo."

I wished her a good night and settled in as she walked upstairs to get herself ready for the night. As I lay there, I couldn't help but think about all that happened, and all that might happen. As I drifted off to sleep, I thought to myself; _Man, if all this happened on the first day, what will every other day be like?_

If every day were _this_ exciting, I was in for a heck of a ride…


	4. Recovering

**A/N - Nothing new here, other than that this is the second chapter of my birthday double-update.**

I awoke the next morning somewhat disoriented, having momentarily forgotten where I was. My mouth was completely dry, and my tongue felt like it had cracked a little from the dryness. I looked at my surroundings, remembering that I was still in Fluttershy's cottage. I quickly noticed a glass of water on the end table by my head. I sat up slowly, trying not to overexert myself, and picked up the glass of water. I could tell by the feel of the glass that the water was cool, but not ice cold. This was good, as ice cold water would have been painful to drink with my mouth and throat in the condition they were.

I took a drink of the cool water, slowly sipping it to make it last longer and savoring its fresh taste. It was by far better than any water I had _ever_ had on Earth. I only managed to take a few sips before I heard noises coming from the kitchen; it sounded like something sizzling quietly on a skillet and the occasional scrape of a tool to move whatever was cooking. From the smell of it, we were having some kind of eggs and toast for breakfast; and probably tea as well, as I heard the kettle start to whistle.

I decided to see if I could be of any help, but as I went to get up off the small couch, I was reminded of yesterday's events in the form of a sharp, shooting pain from my right hand as I used it to push myself up. I managed to stand without using it with little difficulty, and decided to undo the dressing to see how it was healing. I smirked as I undid the last of the wrap; thinking that some of Zecora's potion must have gotten into my bloodstream, as while the bones still hurt, the skin was completely healed, leaving only barely visible scars.

I walked quietly into the kitchen to see if I could be of any help, waiting until Fluttershy wasn't doing anything near the stove to announce myself in case I startled the timid yellow Pegasus. "Morning Fluttershy." I said quietly, startling her despite my best efforts not to.

"Eep! Oh… Good morning Blake." She said with a smile as she realized who it was. "I didn't expect you to be up so early with everything that happened yesterday."

I smiled at this. "Yeah, I've always been something of an early riser, kinda comes with the territory when you work construction." I said, suddenly remembering my old job and the friends I had made there.

I didn't get long to think about that though, as Fluttershy spoke again, bringing me back to the present. "I was just making breakfast for us, scrambled eggs and wheat toast with jam… Oh dear… I forgot to ask you if you even liked those things. Don't worry, I'll remake you anything you want." She said as she hurriedly moved about the kitchen, looking for something else for me to eat.

I smiled at her caring nature, hoping it wouldn't come back to haunt her. I placed my hand on her shoulder as she passed me, causing her to stop in her tracks "It's ok Fluttershy, I like scrambled eggs and toast in the morning, you don't need to make me something else." She calmed down at this and went back to making breakfast.

"Oh, ok… I'm glad to hear you like them; I wouldn't want to upset you by offering you something you didn't want without even asking." I couldn't help but smile at this as I knelt down and wrapped her up in a hug. "Oh my… Blake, are you feeling alright?"

I nodded, "I'm feeling better than I have for awhile Fluttershy. Where I'm from, the kindness you've shown me is all but unheard of, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate that." I felt her cheeks get hot as she returned my embrace.

We broke the hug soon after, and Fluttershy bade me to wait in the living room while she finished breakfast for the two of us. Soon after I heard the clinking of plates and silverware and went back into the kitchen to help her bring our breakfasts out to her small dining table. Fluttershy had made me a _huge_ plate of scrambled eggs; I would have been surprised if there were less than a dozen eggs worth on my plate. She also gave me a large glass of ice cold milk and a cup of the tea she had made.

I looked at the breakfast she had prepared for me, amazed at her hospitality. She explained that it was to help me recover from the injuries I had received the previous day. While Zecora's potion had healed the soft tissue damage, there were still some lingering effects, mostly weakness from having lost so much blood. The entire breakfast was delicious: the eggs were properly cooked and lightly seasoned, the toast was golden brown and just slightly crunchy, and the jam was strawberry, sweet but not overpowering.

I then turned my attention to her plate and noticed only a small amount of eggs and one piece of toast. "You didn't give me all your food, did you Fluttershy?" She seemed to start a bit at this, like I had caught her doing something.

She smiled at me sheepishly "Oh no, I have chickens out back that give me plenty of eggs. I'm not very hungry when I first wake up, so I usually don't eat very much at breakfast; this is normal for me." I was still skeptical, but I accepted it and decided not to push the issue.

The remainder of breakfast was spent idly chatting; Fluttershy told me that she cared not only for pets, but also for the forest critters that lived near her home. She also told me that the tea she made was a combination of ginger root, rose hip, and ginseng, and that she made herself a cup every morning with breakfast. "So Fluttershy, I've noticed that most of the ponies I've met, save for Scootaloo, have some kind of picture on their flanks. Like how you have those three butterflies with pink wings and teal bodies. Is that some kind of tattoo or something?"

She had a confused look "I'm not sure I've ever heard of a 'tattoo' before. As for the pictures, they're called Cutie Marks, and they represent a pony's unique talent. Everypony gets one eventually, it appears on its own when that pony realizes what their special talent is. Mine represents my love of animals."

I nodded, not sure I fully understood, but I figured that I would with time. "I see. As for what a tattoo is, it's a type of body art some humans get. It's basically ink that gets imbedded into our skin with small needles to make a permanent picture on our bodies."

Fluttershy gasped when I mentioned needles. "Oh my, doesn't that hurt? How big are the pictures, are they very small, or are they big?" Though she didn't seem thrilled at the idea of needles, she seemed interested.

I shrugged. "They do, but how much depends on where you get it. As for size, they can be any size you want, there are people that have tiny ones in discreet places, like their ankles, and there are others who have almost their entire bodies covered."

We finished breakfast shortly after, and I helped Fluttershy clear the table and wash the dishes. She kept insisting that I didn't need to, and I would simply reply that I wanted to, because I didn't want to be sitting around while she did everything. After breakfast was cleared away, she led me outside and showed me around her cottage, which had quite a few different animal feeders and a large number of birdhouses set up around it. In the back was a fenced I chicken coop with several chickens milling about inside.

Fluttershy went about feeding her animals while I sat back and watched, having become somewhat woozy as I wasn't yet back to full health. She sang a melody while she went about feeding the critters, and I had to admit that she had a beautiful singing voice. We went back inside her cottage when she finished her chores and talked for a bit longer. "I need to go into town for awhile to pick up a few things. I think it would be best if you stayed here for now until you get your strength back… if that's ok with you that is."

I smiled and nodded. "That's fine with me, I agree, I doubt I'm well enough to walk very far right now. You go and take your time; I'll be ok by myself. Oh by the way, what happened to my shirt?" I asked, having just realized that I never put it back on after I was treated.

"Oh, I washed and patched it for you last night. I managed to fix the holes well enough, but I wasn't able to get the blood out… I hope you're not mad." She said with a small frown on her face. "I left it on the dresser upstairs; I thought you might want to take a shower soon."

I perked up at this, a nice hot shower sounded _really_ good right about now. "Thank you Fluttershy. I'm not mad; in fact, I'm flattered that you went through the trouble to do that for me."

She smiled and shook her head at this; "It's the least I could do after it got damaged when you saved me and Scootaloo from those mean ol' timberwolves like that." Well, I couldn't argue with that, and I was grateful for her fixing it, even if she couldn't get the blood out; it _was_ the only shirt I had with me after all. "Blake, why do humans wear clothes?" She caught me off guard with that one.

I thought for a moment before I replied. "Well, there are a few reasons. The first and probably most important being; since we lack a fur coat or any substantial body hair, we're more susceptible to changes in our environment, especially heat and cold." She nodded her understanding and I continued. "The second being a social taboo, it's not acceptable to go out in public without certain parts of their bodies covered."

She looked confused at this, so I explained further. "Humans don't have tails or other means to conceal the more… intimate… portions of our anatomies, so we use clothing to do so instead." She opened her mouth to say something, probably to ask what I meant, when a look of realization came over her and she blushed furiously. _Seriously, how do they do that through their fur_?

"Oh… I see… Umm, thank you for explaining that Blake; I should probably get going now though. If I don't get to Applejack's stand early enough, she'll run out of apples before I get there."

I nodded. "Ok, go ahead and go, I'll take my shower while you're out." With that, we said our goodbyes and she left to do whatever errands she needed to for the day.

I walked slowly upstairs as I still wasn't fully recovered, though I was much better off than I had been the previous day. I found Fluttershy's bathroom easily and walked in. It was modestly decorated, and had kind of an outdoorsy feel to it, with butterfly stickers on the walls and muted green and brown wallpaper and floor tiles. I turned the water on and set it to the temperature I liked.

The shower itself was uneventful, I hadn't realized how tensed up I was until the hot water started relaxing my body. Fluttershy's selection of cleaning products was fairly large, mostly in the… mane-care department, and all seemed to be floral scented.

I stepped out of the shower and dried myself off. When I was done with that, I used a small towel hanging next to the sink to wipe the fog off of the mirror and took a look at myself for the first time since I came to this world. Everything seemed mostly the same: same sandy brown hair, same tan skin, same chest hair, same muscular frame and same clean shaven face, even though now I had fresh stubble. Even my eyes were the same, a dark blue with gold streaks radiating away from my pupils. I had been told it was something called sectoral heterochromia, but all I really knew or cared about it was that it looked awesome.

Two things I did notice that had changed, the tribal dragon tattoo on my left pectoral and all the old scars I had were now gone. The only scars I had now were the ones I got from fighting those timberwolves. Deciding not to dwell on it too much, I redressed myself and headed back downstairs to see if I could find something to do while I waited for Fluttershy.

When I got downstairs, I found a small white bunny hopping around the living room, and he appeared to be looking for something. He turned around when I reached the bottom of the stairs and hopped over to me. He looked up at me with an irritated expression, but I had no idea what he wanted. "Hey there little fella, didja lose something?"

He hopped over to a table and climbed up it, pointing at a picture of Fluttershy sitting on a patch of grass in front of a log and surrounded by woodland critters. "You want to know where Fluttershy is?" That was the only thing I could think of from that gesture. Fortunately, I was right, and he nodded his head. "She went to the market to pick up a few things; I dunno when she'll be back though." He got that irritated look again when I told him that. It was weird that he could understand me like that.

The little bunny hopped away and out of sight, and I decided to take a better look around the cottage. I hadn't realized it yesterday, but this cottage seemed to be fairly large for something Fluttershy's size to live in; but then again, she _was_ a Pegasus, and this would give her at least some room to fly around inside.

I walked upstairs to check out the bedroom, curious as to how ponies slept. I wasn't incredibly surprised to see a bed, much like one you would see on Earth. The mattress looked to be about the same size as a full-size, and looked like it would fit her comfortably.

I was about to head back down to the living room when I heard the door open. I thought it was Fluttershy returning home until I heard a feminine –if tomboyish- voice call out; "Fluttershy! You home? I got a new trick I wanna show ya!"

_Must be a friend of hers; I should probably go introduce myself and let her know that Fluttershy's out right now._ I thought. I descended the stairs to see that whoever it was wasn't in the main room, but I could still hear her in the cottage somewhere, probably in the kitchen.

Sure enough, right as I reached the bottom of the stairs, a light blue Pegasus with a rainbow striped mane and tail and bright magenta eyes trotted out of the kitchen. She had a cloud shooting a rainbow colored lightning bolt for a cutie mark. "Huh, guess she's not he-" She stopped mid-sentence when she spotted me.

"Uh, Hi. My name's Blake. Fluttershy's not in right now, dunno when she'll be back." The rainbow-maned Pegasus didn't say anything as she seemed to be looking me over. I nervously smiled at her.

Her expression turned to one of shock, and she took a step back. "All that blood…" _Crap, I forgot about the stains on this shirt…_ "Sharp teeth too…" Her expression turned to one of sadness then rage as she shouted, "You _ate _Fluttershy_, _didn't you!?" Before I had a chance to protest, she charged at me with a speed that I wouldn't have been able to dodge away from even if I had been in top condition and tackled me with surprising force, knocking the wind from me.

I landed harshly on the stairs, and looked up to see the light blue Pegasus on top of me, pulling her hoof back as if to punch my face in, which is probably exactly what she intended to do. The door opened, and I heard; "Rainbow Dash? What are you _doing_?!" This caused the Pegasus on top of me to stop what she was doing and we both looked over at the doorway to see a horrified Fluttershy with bags full of groceries strapped to her sides. "Leave poor Blake alone, he's been through enough!"

Rainbow Dash pulled herself off of me and Fluttershy rushed over to me, still lying on the stairs. "Oh my goodness Blake, are you alright? You aren't hurt again, are you?" I groaned and shook my head in response; I would be sore for a few days, but no actual injuries that I could feel.

Rainbow Dash flew up next to Fluttershy, "Fluttershy, you _know_ this… thing?" I didn't like the way she referred to me, but decided it would be better to let Fluttershy handle correcting her friend.

Fluttershy looked angry when Rainbow Dash said this, "Blake is not a _thing_!" She shouted; _whoa, I wouldn't want to be Rainbow Dash right now if she's that mad._ "He's a human and he _saved my life_!" that one got her attention as her ears drooped to the sides of her head and her jaw dropped for a moment before looking back to me.

She had a shameful look on her face as she said; "Oh my gosh, I-I'm so sorry, I saw all that blood on you and I thought… Does that mean?" I had a feeling I knew what she was asking.

I nodded, "Yup, this is all _my_ blood." I wheezed a little as I said this, my ribs still somewhat aching from being hit by Rainbow Dash then the stairs. "It's cool though, I got healed up by a zebra named Zecora, so aside from being somewhat flimsy from blood loss, I'm pretty much right as rain."

Her jaw dropped again when she heard it was my blood staining my shirt. "I-I heard about what happened from Scootaloo yesterday, but I thought she was making it up… I mean, a weird, talking hairless-ape creature wearing clothes that took out _two_ timberwolves by himself seemed kinda hard to believe at the time." She flew over to me and looked me in the eye. "I didn't hurt you too bad, did I?" she asked, sounding sincerely apologetic.

I smiled and shook my head, "Tell ya what, promise that you'll try to look before you leap next time, and we'll forget it ever happened." She perked right up at this.

"Thanks… uh, Blake?" I nodded, and she smiled. "You're already awesome in _my_ book!" She was suddenly very enthusiastic as she held out a hoof towards me. Apparently guessing correctly what she was going for, I tapped her hoof with my fist in a bro… hoof? "So, you two wanna head to the park and watch me do some _awesome_ tricks?"

I couldn't help but chuckle at her enthusiasm. "Sounds good to me, the park isn't too far." Fluttershy gave me a worried look at this. "Don't worry, I'll be ok for short distances, I donated blood all the time back home, so I know how to manage. Besides, no offense, but I don't do too well being inside for long periods, I need to be out doing something."

Fluttershy nodded reluctantly at this. "Ok, Blake, if you're sure you'll be alright… Rainbow Dash's tricks are always fun to watch." She smiled at this and Rainbow Dash let out a 'woo-hoo' as we set out for the park. I decided to take my shirt off to avoid any more 'incidents'.

The three of us chatted along the way, with Fluttershy walking on my left and Rainbow Dash flying on my right. I had to explain to them what I meant by 'donating blood', which they fortunately took fairly well. I made sure to leave details of how hostile humanity can be out of the conversation though; I didn't want to worry them too much so soon.

Fluttershy packed a small picnic for the three of us, making sure to bring plenty of liquids and fruit for me. It wasn't long before we got to the park, and there were other ponies there as well. They didn't pay much mind to me though, probably because I was with the other two, which put the others at ease.

When we set up the picnic, Rainbow Dash began her routine. I had to admit, she was good, though I couldn't figure out how she made that rainbow streak behind her as she flew. I decided it would be best to not question stuff like that for now; there were already too many other strange things going on, and if I worried about every single one, my head might explode. After about an hour, Rainbow Dash started to run out of tricks and we decided to call it a day; though she promised to cook up some new ones to show us soon.

Rainbow Dash decided to go her own way for now, leaving me and Fluttershy to walk back to her cottage alone. Until I heard a familiar DJ call my name that is… "Hey Blake, how's it hangin?" She said as she caught up to us. She had on a set of packs with her cutie mark on them, which was some kind of musical note.

I smiled at her. "Not too shabby, a few snags here and there, but pretty good overall. How'd the gig go last night?"

She smiled up at me. "Dude, it was awesome! Wish you coulda been there. So, you think you'll be up to meet my friend today?"

I chuckled at that, "Sure, as long as we don't run into anymore timberwolves, I think I'll be ok. Just take it slow on the way, I'm still recovering." I then knelt down and gave Fluttershy a hug. "Thanks for everything… will you be ok going home on your own?"

She smiled and nodded at this. "You're very welcome Blake, I'm just glad you're feeling better. Don't worry about me; I won't be going into the Everfree today, so I'll be alright." With that, we waved each other goodbye, and me and Vinyl made our way to meet this friend of hers.

We were walking through what I guessed was the main thoroughfare of town, when a pink pony with a dark pink… and very poofy… mane and tail with three balloons for a cutie mark suddenly looked over at me. Her sky blue eyes went wide and she hopped up in the air and gasped; then without even touching the ground again, she took off in the opposite direction, leaving a pony-shaped cloud where she had been a moment ago.

Vinyl chuckled and nudged my side with her shoulder, "Looks like you'll be getting a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party tonight dude." I gave her a confused look at this. "That was Pinkie Pie, she's Ponyville's party expert, and she throws a party for every new pony she meets, even if they're only visiting."

I just shook my head and decided not to worry about it for now; instead we kept heading towards where Vinyl's friend was. She led me to a light green house and turned to me when we got to the door. "Here dude, you'll need these." She said as she turned to her pack and pulled out two pairs of noise dampening earmuffs with her magic, passing one to me and putting the other on herself.

Deciding not to question it, I put mine on too. Once I had, she knocked on the door with her hoof and we waited. Moments later, the door opened to reveal a mint-green unicorn with a lighter mint colored mane with a white streak. Her eyes were a gold color. She looked at Vinyl for a moment until Vinyl gestured towards me with her head. She looked at me –more specifically my abdomen- before slowly bringing her gaze up to my face. I smiled and waved, somewhat nervous under her wondering gaze.

Her eyes suddenly widened and she let out what would have been an ear-piercing fangirl squee. _Good thing Vinyl had these earmuffs; otherwise I might be deaf for life._

I looked over to Vinyl and she gave me a knowing smile. Her trademark sunglasses were cracked.


	5. Parties and Memories

** Shade the Dark Latios - Thanks for the compliment! I'll be sure to keep you in mind if I get stuck somewhere.**

** GentlestCobra2 – As I said before, I'm only going to be posting one chapter a week except for special occasions to ensure I can stay on a constant update schedule.**

**A/N – I only have a few short announcements for you this week; the first being that for anyone who's interested, there is an app for this site called FanFiction Reader. (There are a few with similar names, the one I'm referring to has an icon that looks like a stack of books with a red book with brass accents on top and bound by a green strap.) The second is that I will have several secret "Achievements" that once unlocked, I will treat you all with a double update on the next scheduled update. I mentioned this in a reply to a review, but I wanted to put it into an Author's Note as well. That's all for now; enjoy and thanks for reading!**

After about two minutes of prancing about and babbling incoherently, the mint green pony, who I managed to see had a lyre for a cutie mark, managed to calm down enough so that Vinyl could introduce us. "Blake, I'd like you to meet Lyra Heartstrings, she's something of a human aficionado in her spare time. Lyra, this is Blake Marshall, who you already know is a human."

"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!" Lyra began nearly hyperventilating. Vinyl levitated a paper bag from her pack and gave it to Lyra with her magic. Lyra took it in her hooves and began breathing into it. _Man, Vi must've known exactly how this was gonna go if she was this prepared._

Once she calmed down again, Lyra reared up on her hind legs and extended a foreleg towards me. When she stood up like that, she was just as tall as I was and could look me in the eye. I took her hoof and shook it, in what I guess I should call a hoof-shake. "H-hi B-Blake, it's n-nice to meet you." She suddenly seemed very nervous and dropped back to all fours. "I've wanted to meet a human my whole life… Please tell me you're real?"

I smiled at that, glad I could make her wish come true, with a lot of help of course. "Of course I'm real, you just shook my hand, didn't you?"

She smiled and nodded at that before a look of realization dawned on her face. "Oh my gosh, I shook a human's _hand_!" She gasped again. "EEEE! I got to touch his _fin~gers_!" She squealed excitedly in a sing-song tone.

Vinyl chuckled. "Well, I s'pose I'll give you two some space, gotta get my spare shades anyway." She said as she walked off, leaving me and Lyra to get to know one another.

"So Lyra, I imagine you have all kinds of questions for me?" She looked up at me and nodded. "I chuckled, "I figured as much. How 'bout we go someplace more comfortable than a doorstep, and I'll answer everything I can?" Her eyes lit up so bright I would've been surprised if they _didn't_ glow in the dark.

She turned and beckoned me to follow; leading me from what I could tell was back the way we came. We ended up in the park close to where her house was, there was a bench on a small hillock where you could see quite a bit of the surrounding area. It wasn't exactly a secluded place, but it was quite peaceful nonetheless. When we got to the bench, Lyra sat down next to me with her back against the backrest of the bench and her hind legs hanging off the front, much like a human would. "Oh my gosh, I have _so many questions_! I have no idea what to ask first!" She exclaimed once we were comfortable.

I couldn't help but chuckle at this, "Well, why don't we start with the basics and work up from there? I'll even start to help kick things off. I'm a male; I'm twenty eight years old, I've worked construction since I was eighteen, and as far as I know, I'm the only human here…" Saying that out loud brought back a flurry of memories and the revelation that while I had others to call friends; I was alone in a strange place. I hadn't had time to think about it before, but I was separated from my loved ones. I forced those thoughts from my mind however; after all, if _I _could be brought here, why not others?

Lyra seemed to notice my hesitation though; "Hey, are you okay? We can talk another time if you've got something on your mind…" She sounded worried.

I shook my head, both to clear it and to answer her. "No, no; I'm fine. Just thinking is all. Now, where were we?" We conversed for quite some time, mostly me answering Lyra's questions as best I could. I'm not sure for how long we talked, but it seemed like the sun was starting to set by the time Lyra started to run out of questions to ask. We had run the gambit from food to fashion to entertainment, we even got into technology a bit, though she didn't understand too much of that last one, so we didn't get too into it. Fortunately she steered clear of questions about my personal life before I came here, which I wasn't ready to talk about just yet.

We were about to part ways for the day when we heard a voice call out to me from behind. "Hey, there you are Blake, I was worried!" We turned around to see none other than Derpy flying our way. She slowed down for a landing and somehow managed to trip on her own hooves, sending her tail over teakettle.

After I made sure she was ok, she reached into her bag and pulled out a letter. "Here ya go, Blake, this one's for you!" She stated proudly as she handed me the letter. "Oh, before I forget, I have one for you too Lyra." She reached into her pack and pulled out… a muffin? Realizing her error, she put the muffin back into her pack and pulled out another letter. "Heheh, oops, my bad." She said with a sheepish grin before flying off again.

Lyra watched as I opened my letter, probably still marveling at the fact that I had fingers. It was a party invitation at a place called 'Sugarcube Corner'. It said that it was a party for 'Ponyville's newest resident'. _Guess Vi was right, but how the heck did a party get thrown together in just a few hours? And how does whoever sent out the invites already know my name, or that I'm a new resident, have I already met them?_

While I was thinking about this, Lyra opened her letter; finding it to be the same as the one I had received. She looked up at me and smiled, "Well, looks like the party's for you Blake, you're the only 'new resident' that I know of, and the party starts in just a little over an hour. Do you wanna go?"

I could tell already I was gonna like this place; I had only been here for just over a day and I was already being thrown a welcoming party by an entirely different species who had been nothing but hospitable so far. "Sounds good to me, though you wouldn't happen to know where I could get a new shirt by chance? I feel kinda exposed without one."

She cocked her head to the side in confusion. "Then why aren't you wearing one now?" I had to admit it was a good question.

"I had one before, but it got ruined by a pair of timberwolves…" Her eyes went wide when she heard that. "A friend of mine named Fluttershy tried to fix it for me, but it was too far gone."

She frowned at this before her eyes went wide again and her jaw dropped. "Wait a minute, _you're_ the one who saved Fluttershy and Scootaloo from the timberwolves yesterday?!" She seemed both excited and worried. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they're ok, but you're an _endangered species_, what if you hadn't been able to fend them off?!"

I shrugged. "I know it sounds kinda grim, but I'd rather have tried and failed to help than sat back and done nothing while the timberwolves… you know…"

She turned somber at that. "I know… it was a really great thing you were there. I don't know how any of us would have taken it if you hadn't been there and something would've happened…" Her voice was nearly a whisper when she finished.

She was staring at the ground and looked like she was about to tear up, so I knelt down and gave her a firm but gentle hug, which she returned with a foreleg. "Hey, it's ok, there's no need to think like that. Everything turned out for the best and we're all still here, so we should be happy." I said in a comforting tone.

She squeezed me a little tighter before releasing the hug and looking at me with a grateful smile. "Thanks Blake, you're right. Now, about that shirt…" She said, tapping a hoof to her chin thoughtfully. "Ah! I know just the pony for the job, follow me!" she said before she turned and headed towards a part of town I hadn't yet been to.

We were only walking for around five minutes by my estimate before we came to an… interesting building. The outside was painted in various shades of blues and purples with several diamond and heart shapes painted onto it. The architecture reminded me of a somewhat gaudy carousel, even having carousel… ponies? Incorporated into the design. _If this place _doesn't _have 'carousel' somewhere in its name, I'm gonna hafta call shenanigans._

Lyra walked up to the door of the place and motioned me to follow before opening the door and stepping inside, with me close behind. As she opened the door, I heard the tinkle of a small bell from above. _Hmm… been awhile since I've seen one of those._ "Comiiing!" A feminine voice called in a sing-song tone from another room.

The room we were in seemed just as gaudy as the exterior of the building, with purple curtains everywhere; and off to one side there was a small dais surrounded on three sides by mirrors being suspended by what looked like the conical top of a carousel. Suddenly a strikingly white unicorn with a highly styled, brilliant indigo mane and very light blue eye liner walked in from a side door with head held high and eyes closed. "Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where everything is chic, unique, and magnifique!" She said with a great deal of pride.

She opened up her almond-shaped eyes when she finished, revealing that they were a shining azure. "Oh hello Ly…" She paused as she noticed me standing behind Lyra. "LYRA! LOOK OUT! A MONSTER!" She shrieked as her horn began to glow a light blue color.

Lyra looked back to me, then behind me, presumably looking for the 'monster' this unicorn was terrified of. I didn't get to see much else though, as one of the heavy purple curtains was thrown at me, the weight and momentum knocking me off my feet. I landed bodily on my back and smacked my head painfully on the ground, the impact fortunately being softened somewhat by the curtain enveloping me; though the impact was still enough to daze me slightly and cause me to see stars. I then heard Lyra. "_Rarity! _What was _that_ for?! You might've hurt him!"

I could feel something that I presumed to be Lyra's magic, begin attempting to untangle me from the curtain. Unfortunately, I was still somewhat dazed, and my attempts to help get myself untangled only seemed to make things worse. I then heard another voice, one that I recognized to be Fluttershy's, "Oh my, what happened?" She asked in a worried tone.

Lyra grunted a response. "Rarity threw a curtain at my new friend for some reason; I brought him here to see about getting Rarity to make him a new shirt for the party later."

It was the voice that I guessed belonged to this 'Rarity's turn to respond this time. "Oh dear, I'm so so sorry Lyra, I didn't realize that was a friend of yours, I thought it was a monster! Here, let me help you!" I was suddenly lifted to my feet and the curtain was quickly untangled from me.

I was somewhat disoriented, but I could see that I was facing all three now, Lyra in front of me to my left, with Rarity a few feet directly in front of me, and Fluttershy standing in the same doorway that Rarity had come from. Her eyes opened wide when she recognized me and she came flying at me. "Blake! I'm glad you're ok!" She exclaimed as she tackled me for a hug, nearly knocking me over again.

Rarity's jaw dropped at this. "_This _is _Blake_?!" She exclaimed, levitating a small brush over to me and began dusting me off with it as Fluttershy released her hug. "I simply can't tell you how _sorry_ I am for that little… mix up." She said sincerely. "When dear Fluttershy told me of the brave hero that saved her and little Scootaloo from those _dreadful_ timberwolves, I admit that I was somewhat… skeptical of her description. But seeing you standing here has erased those doubts from my mind." She set the brush down as she turned to Fluttershy, who was now standing at my side. "I must also apologize to you for doubting your word Fluttershy…"

Fluttershy blushed at this and tried to hide her face in her copious pink mane. "That's ok Rarity; it _was_ pretty hard to believe."

Rarity shook her head. "Nonsense, I'm your friend and I should have believed you." She turned her attention back to me. "Now, I believe both Fluttershy and Lyra have mentioned that you're in need of a new shirt to replace the one that was… umm, damaged… If you'll kindly follow me into my inspiration room, we can get your measurements and I can start work immediately afterwards."

I looked around nervously. "I appreciate the offer… but I don't have any… umm, whatever the currency here is, so I wouldn't be able to pay for it."

Rarity waved a hoof in the air dismissively. "Nonsense Darling, after how you risked your life to save dear Fluttershy and little Scootaloo, I won't hear of payment. Besides, I do relish the challenge of designing for someone of your… stature…" I think I caught a slight blush at that last remark. "Oh, and our currency is called 'bits', just so you know Darling."

She led me through a different door than the one that she and Fluttershy had come through earlier, into a room that I could only describe as chaos. There were balls of yarn and patches and rolls of fabrics strewn about, rough sketches pinned to just about everything, piles of books stacked on a desk next to a red, old-fashioned looking sewing machine, and placed about, seemingly at random were… mannequins? Ponnequins? I wasn't sure what to call them; dressed in varying fineries, mostly dresses. "Now, is there anything you had in mind?" She asked, turning to face me again.

"Well, I usually prefer button-ups, like the one I had before; but I imagine that one's still back at Fluttershy's cottage, so I can't really show you what I mean."

She turned her head to a nearby table and her horn glowed, levitating a dark blue piece of folded fabric. It looked like my shirt… "Where did…" I wondered aloud.

Rarity looked back to me with a small smile as she unfolded my shirt and began inspecting it. ""Fluttershy brought it with her since you were unavailable for measurements at the time… Oh dear, this simply _won't do_!" she exclaimed. "While Fluttershy did an _extraordinary_ job hoof-stitching the tears, I'm afraid this… ugh… _blood_ hasset in, it'll never come out now…" She shivered as she mentioned the blood. "However, all is not lost; for I, Rarity, shall craft a new one for you!"

Rarity turned and walked over to the desk with the sewing machine resting on it and began to levitate a few different materials over to herself. "Now then, what would you like Ponyville's premier fashionista to weave for you today, hmm? I know, how about a bright gold color to bring out your eyes? Or maybe-"

I stopped her by gently placing a hand on her shoulder. "If it's alright with you Miss Rarity, for now I'd just like a replacement of this one. I've never had an eye for fashion, and I tend to be fairly active, so my clothes often take a beating anyway; my clothing often doesn't last a full year before it's so worn out that I need to replace it. I appreciate the offer, but would it be alright if we stick to something basic that'll withstand an active lifestyle?" I paused a moment and looked around, "Judging by what I can see in here, your works are quite detailed and have a lot of care put into making them… I'd hate to ruin something like that with everyday wear-and-tear."

"Oh, I see…" she said, seeming somewhat flustered. "Thank you, I do so love to hear my work appreciated. You may call me Rarity by the way, while I _do_ appreciate good manners, formalities are unnecessary among friends." She smiled warmly as she said 'friends'. "Now, let us get back to the matter of your new garment; shall we? I shall gladly craft you a new one using the most durable materials at my disposal, to ensure its longevity as per your wishes. Are there any specific colors or patterns you wish to have incorporated into the design?"

I shrugged. "I'm not really picky, as long as it fits and won't wear out too quickly, I really have no preference. Though I admit that I generally stick to either dark or woodsy colors, like tans and dark greens, like this." I showed her my bracelet to emphasize my preference.

She looked at the bracelet for a moment and nodded. "I see. Fluttershy has similar preferences, although she tends towards lighter colors. Very well, I shall begin as soon as I record your measurements. I'll only need the dimensions of your upper body for now; however, if you would like me to craft anything else in the future, I'll need the rest of your measurements." With that, she levitated a cloth tape measure over to me and began taking my measurements, using her magic to manipulate my body into whatever position she needed me in to do so while she recorded her findings.

After only a few minutes, she set the tape measure down and began shooing me to the main room. "Thank you Blake, I have everything I need for now, please feel free to wait in the lobby while I craft your new attire. If Fluttershy or Lyra are still here, I'm sure they'd enjoy your company."

As it turned out, they were both still there, sitting on a small, fancy-looking sofa that I hadn't noticed before. They seemed to be making small talk when I entered the room. I walked over to them and we conversed for awhile until Rarity walked proudly into the main room from her inspiration room, carrying a new shirt that I was glad to see was a simple dark khaki color that seemed to be identical in design to my original one.

She handed me the shirt with a smile. I began trying on the new shirt as her expression turned pensive and she asked; "Darling, forgive me if I seem rude, but wherever did you find the shirt you were wearing before? I compared the measurements I took from you to it, and the fit was positively _horrendous_."

I chuckled at that. "I don't doubt it; it was just a store-bought, mass-produced shirt. It wasn't fitted to me or anything; it was just generally a size that fit."

She seemed horrified at the thought, "How could you buy a _mass-produced_ fashion accessory like that?!" She seemed incredulous.

I chuckled again and shook my head. "It's more complicated than that Rarity, like I explained to Fluttershy, humans wear clothes for two main reasons: the primary being that our bodies don't adapt very well to adverse conditions, especially cold and heat, so we wear clothing to compensate; the secondary is that it's a social taboo, and in almost all places illegal to be in public without certain areas of our bodies hidden from view; and since we have no built-in mechanism to do that, we wear clothing."

She nodded at that, seeming to understand. "I see, it would seem our two cultures vary greatly in some respects then. For ponies, wearing clothing is almost exclusively a fashion choice." I had finished putting the shirt on by that point. "I must admit, I had my doubts… but seeing it in use, that style and color does seem… right… for you somehow."

I smiled and knelt down to her eye level, "Thank you Rarity, I can't tell you how much I appreciate this."

She wrapped me in a hug with her forelegs at this, a wide grin on her face. "No need to thank me Dear, it was a pleasure to help a new friend, especially a brave one like you…" She released me from the hug and I stood back up. "Now, if I recall, I do believe there is to be a welcoming party for you beginning shortly, if we leave now, we should make it in plenty of time."

We all agreed and headed out of Rarity's shop, with Rarity in front and Lyra and Fluttershy on either side, since I didn't know where I was going. It wasn't long before I noticed a somewhat dark orange pony with three white freckles beneath each of her emerald eyes and a long straw-blond mane beneath a Stetson pulling a cart of what looked to be baked goods up a side street towards us.

The pony also seemed to notice us and called out in a feminine voice with a typical southern accent. "Howdy y'all, how's everypony doin'?" We all answered in the affirmative. "Who's yer new friend girls? Ah don't think Ah've seen 'im around Ponyville before." As she drew up to us, I could see that her cutie mark was three red apples.

Lyra introduced us, "Blake, this is Applejack, she runs Sweet Apple Acres at the edge of town. Applejack, this is Blake Marshall!" She said my name rather proudly. "He's a genuine human; today's only his second day in town and he's already saved Fluttershy here and Scootaloo from a pair of timberwolves! We're actually on our way to Sugarcube corner for his 'Welcome to Ponyville' party right now."

Applejack held out a hoof for me to shake, which she did with gusto when I took it. "Howdy Blake, Pleased ta meet ya! Ah heard what y'all did from Rainbow Dash earlier. Gotta say, it takes a heap a guts ta take on _two_ timberwolves by yerself. Anypony who'd do something like that ta help somepony else's alright by me. Speakin' of the party, that's actually where me 'n this here cart of apple treats are headin'. Why don't we walk together, and y'all can tell me what happened with them varmints yourself."

And with that, we were off, with me giving Applejack a more detailed version of the confrontation with the timberwolves. It wasn't long before the building in question came into sight. There weren't any signs stating the name of the building, save for a hanging sign with a picture of a cupcake on it, but since the building essentially looked like a giant gingerbread house, complete with frosting trim, candy cane pillars, and even having an attic room in the shape of a giant cupcake with three lit candles on top, this had to be the place.

I must've been gawking, because Applejack started chuckling next to me. "Yup, it gets that reaction outta just about everypony when they see it for the first time. Ah'll warn ya now though pardner, ya can't _eat_ it, it just _looks_ like ya can." She started forward again. "Let's get along everypony, the party's gonna start soon!"

Lyra, Rarity, Fluttershy and I all headed towards the main entrance, while Applejack headed around the back, presumably to deliver her wares for the party.

The others hung back for a moment and waited for me to enter. I opened the door to find that the lights were out. I took a step inside and suddenly the lights turned on and a chorus of 'SURPRISE!' greeted me. My hand twitched to move to my non-existent pistol, but I held it in place through an act of will, not wanting to scare anyone or draw attention to the movement.

That tension inside myself was relieved when the same pink pony that Vinyl had said was going to throw this party jumped from her hiding spot and shouted her own 'SURPRISE', almost a full second too late, followed by "Shoot!" I had no words for what I was seeing, from what I could tell, it looked like the entire town showed up just to welcome me. There were too many to count, and I wasn't entirely sure how they all fit inside the building so easily.

The pink pony shot towards me and somehow literally stopped in place, like her hooves suddenly became welded to the spot the stopped on; she began speaking so fast that the only things I managed to make out were: "Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie!", "Did we surprise you?", and "Welcome to Ponyville!".

Before I could respond to Pinkie's rapid-fire conversation, I was slammed into by a purple blur. I looked up from my new position on the ground to see a light purple unicorn with a dark purple mane with a violet and pink streak running through it on the left side of her horn giving me an imploring look through her dark violet eyes. "PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE tell me you're a human from Earth named Blake Marshall!" She practically begged me.

"Yeah, that's me. How do you know who I am though?" _I haven't told anybody here that I'm from another world, how the heck does she know I am?_

She breathed a sigh of relief and hopped off of my chest, allowing me to stand up before saying; "My name is Twilight Sparkle." When she said this, I suddenly heard a familiar voice that I couldn't place in my mind; "_You will be sent to the home of Twilight Sparkle, my personal student."_ I remembered hearing the voice say. For some reason, that made my head hurt.

Twilight continued, oblivious to what was going inside my head. "My mentor, Princess Celestia was supposed to send you to my home yesterday, but the spell she and her sister cast to send you here misfired, causing you to end up somewhere else instead. I'm-"

She stopped, and suddenly she and everyone else bowed. "I am afraid that was _my_ fault…" I heard another familiar voice that I couldn't place coming from behind me. Hearing it made my head hurt worse. I turned to see the two alicorn princesses I remembered seeing before I came here standing behind me. "I was… distracted during the casting of the spell." The smaller one said in the same voice that had just spoken. _I remember their faces, but why can't I remember their names_?

The taller one stepped forward and began speaking in a motherly tone. "I'm glad to see that you're alright Blake Marshall, my sister and I were worried that the spell might have sent you beyond our reach when it misfired." I felt a tugging on my pant leg. I looked down to see Twilight still bowed, motioning with her hoof in what I could only guess was for me to do the same. "It's alright my faithful student, he need not bow before us; in fact, you may _all_ rise. This is a-" The rest of what she said was cut off as my mind was suddenly flooded with jumbled images and conversations.

My mind was swept away in the torrent of returning memories, and the last thing I remembered was the pain of my body impacting the floor…


	6. Revelations

** GhostChris - I'm glad you're enjoying it so far. Well, hopefully it's going in a direction you'll like, I have many chapters written and many more to come, plus a second "book" in mind once this one's done.**

** Shade the Dark Latios - No problem. I try not to do cliffhangers too often, but it's kinda fun to keep you guys guessing once in awhile. :D**

** GentlestCobra2 - Thanks, i plan to. If all goes well, this story will be going on for a long time to come.**

** Shadow Rainstorm - Thanks. I've been doing my best to not suck at this, and I've had this story in mind for awhile, so it feels good to hear that people are enjoying it.**

**A/N - No new announcements story-wise today. On a bit of a personal note however, one of my beloved pets, named Sagan, sadly and unexpectedly passed sometime Sunday afternoon. My wife joined me outside as I buried him, and it took everything I had to keep my composure long enough to inter him without breaking down, as my wife was. I apologize if this ruined anyone's day, it's just something I felt I needed to get out there...**

I opened my eyes to see that I was in a white void of some sort. I looked around in every direction I could think of, but all I could see was white. I wasn't even casting a shadow, even though I was standing on what felt like solid ground. "Hello?" I called out, hoping for, but not expecting an answer.

Suddenly, the void was filled with what looked like TV screens of some sort, each showing a different scene. "Hello Blake." I heard a familiar feminine voice behind me.

I turned to see the shorter princess from before. _Princess… L… Lu…_ "LUNA!" I exclaimed happily, glad to finally be able to remember her name. Are you really here, or are you just a figment of my imagination?" I asked, hoping that she was in face, here with me somehow.

She smiled warmly at me. "I am glad to see that you remember me. I am indeed truly with you. I have come to aid you using the same spell that allowed my sister and I meet you the first time. The memory loss you've experienced is an… unfortunate… result of my loss of concentration while casting the spell that brought you to our world at the conclusion of that meeting. I am here to help you undo this misfortune and restore your memories to you."

"Umm… if you don't mind me asking; where are we, exactly?" I had a hunch, but I wasn't certain.

Luna became more serious at this. "Physically, you are lying on the floor of Sugarcube Corner, where you lost consciousness. I am positioned next to you. As for where _here_ is, this is a dream realm, constructed by your mind in your unconscious state. The images before you are your lost memories, they are creations of your subconscious; a sort of coping mechanism to aid you in making sense of them."

I nodded my head in understanding. "Ok, so what am I supposed to do from here, just watch each one and try to remember it?"

Luna had an expressionless look on her face. "In essence, yes. However, there is more to it than that. You will not be simply _watching_ these memories, but reliving them."

My jaw dropped at this. "_Every_ memory?! That'll take forever!"

Luna giggled. "Do not worry, it will not be as bad as you believe it to be; these are only the memories that are hidden from you, not _all_ of your memories. Each memory will flash in your mind but briefly, and will then be returned to you. Do not worry about time, as it has no meaning in this place; when you awaken, you will forget most of the process of regaining these memories and will find yourself back in Sugarcube Corner for your party. To those around you, it will seem as though you have merely fainted momentarily. Now, let us begin; merely touch a memory to return it to your mind. But be aware, your mind will require time to reintegrate these memories into itself; you will not remember them all right away when you awaken. You must also be sure to take your time with your task, as even _I_ am uncertain as to exactly what will happen if you should attempt to reintegrate them too quickly." With that somehwhat unnerving thought in mind, I began the arduous task of selecting memories and bringing them back to myself.

When I was finally done, after what felt like days on end, a faintly glowing blue rectangle appeared next to Luna. She motioned to it with her head with a smile. "Now that your task is complete, simply step through this portal to return yourself to consciousness and your welcoming party."

I approached the portal slowly, stopping in front of it. I looked over to Luna, who gave me a nod and a smile. "You have done well; now, it is time to return to your party." I took a deep breath and let it out, and then I stepped through.

"Is he ok?" I heard a worried voice that sounded like Pinkie Pie's. "Does he not like parties? Nah, that can't be; everypony likes parties, how could he not?"

I opened my eyes to see that I was on my back, although from the pain I felt, I could tell I had fallen forward. I looked around to see many worried faces before I slowly pulled myself into a sitting position. "What happened, are you ok?" I heard Lyra ask.

I began making my way to my feet. "I'm alright, just got a little overwhelmed by too much excitement in the past few days is all." I said as I looked around to see a lot of relieved faces. "Now, what say we get this party started?" There was a chorus of cheers followed by lively music beginning to play.

The princesses smiled in relief. "I'm glad to see you are well Blake, I'd hate to see something happen to you so soon after your arrival." Princess Celestia said. "I believe you're right, we should enjoy the party." With that, they walked off to do just that.

The party went fairly smoothly afterwards. I saw all the new friends I had made here so far, and even made several new ones. It seems that thanks to a certain rainbow-maned Pegasus, my confrontation with the timberwolves had been the buzz of the town, which seemed to make everyone more accepting of something as alien as me.

Twilight walked over to me. I was able to get a look at her cutie mark when she had to dodge around another pony. It was a purple, six-pointed star overlaying a white six-pointed star surrounded by five more small white six-pointed stars. "Thank Celestia you're alright!" She exclaimed when she got to me. "We were all worried something had happened to you."

I looked over to the princesses, who were standing next to the dessert table, talking to a pony I didn't recognize. "You might want to thank Luna for me being alright; when I passed out, she somehow entered my mind and helped me sort things out."

She looked confused. "What do you mean 'sort things out'?"

I took a moment to decide exactly how to approach her question. "What did the princesses tell you about me?" I asked.

She scratched the side of her head with a hoof for a moment before replying; "Not much, only that the humans of myth are actually real and they wanted to bring one here to see if we could coexist; and that they wanted me to look after you to help you adjust to a new life in a new place."

I nodded my head. "That's the gist of it. When the spell they brought me here with backfired, there were a few negative side-effects, aside from being sent to the wrong location. It also scrambled some of my memories, leaving me pretty disoriented because I could only vaguely remember how I got here, but not where I was supposed to go when I did. It also seemed to have done something to me physically as well, because I couldn't move for awhile after I first arrived."

She was staring off into the group of ponies at the party. "I see. That would explain why you didn't seek me out right away. Though I heard what happened with the timberwolves, so I suppose it actually worked out for the best… who knows what would have happened if you hadn't been there."

Twilight and I chatted for awhile after that, mostly sharing things about ourselves. She told me about her love of learning and magic, and how Princess Celestia sent her here to learn about friendship. I told her about my job in construction and my various outdoor hobbies. After a short while, Twilight decided to introduce me to a few of the 'townsponies', as she called them.

"Hiya mister Blake, I'm glad you're ok!" I heard a tiny voice exclaim from behind me as we were walking.

I turned around and looked down to see Scootaloo, along with two other young ponies I hadn't met yet. "Hi Scootaloo. Where'd you run off to yesterday?"

She looked down at that. "After I got sent outside, I started getting worried, then when I heard you… I got really scared and ran off… I was afraid I wouldn't see you again!" Her dark purple eyes were shining with the threat of tears, causing me to scoop her up into my arms, giving her a reassuring hug.

"I'm sorry you heard that, but hey, I'm still here, aren't I?" I felt her nod into my chest. "I just got here; and I'm already really liking it, so it'll take more than a couple of scratches to get rid of me." I looked down at her and gave her a smile, which she looked back up at me and returned.

I then let her back down to rejoin her friends. "Blake, these are my friends, Applebloom," She gestured to a pale green pony with a bright red mane that had a big, pink bow in it and gradient orange eyes. "And Sweetie Belle." She then gestured to the other pony with her, a unicorn with a white coat and two-tone purple mane and tail with olive green eyes. I noticed that none of them had cutie marks, but before I could ask about it, they shouted "WE ARE THE _CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!_" _Hmm… guess that answers that._

I talked with Scootaloo and her friends for quite a while, learning that Applebloom was Applejack's little sister, which didn't surprise me that much, and that Sweetie Belle was Rarity's sister. They even invited me to join the Cutie Mark Crusaders, which they told me was a group of young ponies dedicated to finding their special talents and getting their cutie marks. I had no idea if I even _could_ get a cutie mark, but I decided to join just for the fun of it. They told me to meet them at their clubhouse sometime later for the 'induction ceremony'.

"So Scoots, what were you and Fluttershy doing in the woods yesterday?" I asked when the thought came to mind.

Scootaloo looked at the floor sheepishly. "Oh, that? Applebloom and Sweetie Belle couldn't play, so I headed off into the Everfree on my own to try my hoof at being a Cutie Mark Crusader Monster Slayer… but I kinda… got lost…" She said, a blush forming on her cheeks. "Fluttershy found me and was leading me out when we got ambushed by those timberwolves… then you showed up and let 'em have it!" the tomboyish Pegasus exclaimed excitedly.

After a while longer, I excused myself from the girls, and began looking around to see what all this party had to offer. There were several games set up: pin the tail on the pony, bobbing for apples, a ball toss, and a few others. They all mostly looked like kiddy games, but seeing as the other ponies at the party were having fun with them, I decided that when in Rome…

I made my way over to the apple bob station first, which was currently being used by Pinkie Pie. "Heya Pinkie Pie, thanks for the awesome welcoming party."

She pulled her head out of the tub with a big red delicious apple in her mouth. "Mmph mmhmphh!" She tried to respond, apparently forgetting about the apple in her mouth. With a jerk of her head, she tossed the apple into the air and chomped it down in one huge bite; somehow still managing to get it all over her face. "You're welcome Blake, I love throwing parties, and I wanted to make you feel welcome!"

I smiled at that. "I appreciate that Pinkie. Mind if I join you? It's been a _long_ time since I bobbed for apples."

She smiled widely, "Of course Blake; this is _your_ party after all!" she exclaimed as she motioned me towards the tub.

I knelt down next to the tub and looked at Pinkie. "Ready?" I asked her.

She nodded and looked down to the tub. "Ok, on three." I began the countdown.  
"One… two… _three_!"

We both dunked our heads into the tub and began searching for apples. I felt something brush past my face, but figuring it to be Pinkie, I ignored it. I felt an apple brush past my mouth and managed to latch onto it. As I was pulling my head back out of the tub, something latched onto my face, obstructing my vision but leaving my mouth and nose clear.

Figuring it to be some kind of prank, I spat the apple out and asked, "Ok, who turned out the lights?"

I heard a splash followed by Pinkie's giggling voice, "Hehehe, Gummy you silly 'gator, let go of Blake." I froze when she said 'gator'. "He can't see the rest of his party with you on his face!"

"Uhh, Pinkie? Did you just say 'gator'?!" I didn't get a response, instead feeling the thing clamped onto my face being pulled on. "Uhh, Pinkie?" I said more worriedly.

Suddenly, the thing popped off of my face and I could see again. The first thing I saw was Pinkie with a small alligator chomping on her mane with her giggling below it.

"Pinkie, you are aware that there's an _alligator_ trying to _eat your head_, right?"

This caused her to giggle even more. "Silly-willy, this is just Gummy, my pet baby toothless alligator."

I raised an eyebrow at this. _A pet toothless alligator, huh? What other wackiness do I have to look forward to?_ I shrugged, "If you say so Pinkie. So, what is there to eat around here? I haven't eaten since lunchtime and I'm gettin' kinda hungry."

She started hopping up and down excitedly. _I didn't know ponies could hop._ "Ooh! Ooh! Let me show you! I made all kinds of yummy treats, and Applejack brought in a bunch too!" She said as she led me to a table practically overflowing with various treats.

I picked out a few of them, namely an apple fritter, a muffin –likely courtesy of Derpy-, and a cupcake. After eating them, all I could think was: _Man, if those three opened their own bakery, they'd be rich in no time!_ My next stop was the punch bowl to help wash it all down.

"Hello again, Blake. Are you enjoying your time here so far? I heard Princess Celestia ask from my left. "We have heard that your first day was somewhat… eventful."

I turned to face her to see that Luna was by her side still. "Yes I am, Princess. Although I'll admit that I miss my family back on Earth, at least I know they're safe."

They both smiled at this. "I'm glad to hear that. I would like to ask that since my sister has allowed you to address her by name, that you do the same for me." She said with a warm smile.

I talked with Celestia and Luna some more after that, learning that apparently on this world they raised and lowered the sun and moon, respectively. They also told me that they would like to go with me and Twilight back to her home after the party, which I was told was not only the town library as well, but it was built on the inside of a somehow still-living tree.

I spent the rest of the party socializing and getting to know more of the townsponies, I even met the Mayor, who was formally known as Mayor Mare; her real name however, was Silver Scroll. Her eyes were a deep blue that looked through the pair of glasses resting on her snout; while her coat was a dull tan color. Her mane and tail were two-tone grey and her cutie mark was a scroll tied with blue string.

I had no idea how long the party went on for, but eventually things started winding down and the various ponies began leaving, eventually leaving myself, Twilight, Pinkie, and the princesses. We all said our goodbyes to Pinkie and headed towards Twilight's home.

"So Blake, what did you think of your first Pinkie party?" Twilight asked, breaking the silence.

I looked at her with a smile. "I really enjoyed it, I doubt there are many on my world that would go through that much trouble just to make a new member of the community feel welcome; let alone have practically the entire community itself show up to do the same." I looked up at the sky thoughtfully "Though I don't think that 'my world' applies to Earth anymore…"

"Are you alright Blake? You sound kinda down." I looked back down at Twilight to see a concerned expression on her face.

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm alright, just thinking about how much has and is going to change for me."

We turned a corner and I got my first look at my new home, it was a large tree sitting in the open. It had a red door set into the trunk with a picture of a lit candle on it with a sign next to it with a picture of an open book. There were several windows placed seemingly at random around the tree, with a balcony up towards the top, nestled in the branches.

I walked up to the door ahead of the others to open it and allow them to go ahead of me. As I reached for the door handle, the door suddenly came flying open. Before I could react, the door smashed into me and knocked me off my feet, somehow pinning me between the door and the trunk of the tree. _Oww…_

I heard Twilight from the other side of the door. "SPIKE! What have I told you about being careful?! You just smashed someone into the trunk again!" As she was yelling, the door was enveloped in a bright purple aura, and when it swung away from me, I could see that the three Twilights in front of me had the same glow to their horns. They rushed over to me and asked; "Are you ok Blake?"

I shook my head to clear it. "I think so; there are only two of you now."

They got a confused look on their faces. "Well, if you're sure…"

We made our way into the library -some of us more unsteadily than others-, and the princesses took a seat on a nearby couch. As Twilight was rushing around to make sure that everyone was comfortable, I noticed a short lizard looking thing with bright green spines on its head running down to the spade-shaped tip of its tail, deep emerald eyes, and a purple body and pale green underbelly. "Hi, I'm Spike! Sorry I hit you with the door. Are you the new housemate Twilight told me about?" _Well he seems enthusiastic._

My head had pretty much cleared by this point. "It's cool, no harm no foul. I'm Blake, and as far as I know I'll be living here, at least for awhile."

Twilight trotted over to us then. "I see you've already met my number one assistant! He's a baby dragon, I hatched him myself!" _A baby dragon? Sure, why not? Not any weirder than those timberwolves._

I was about to reply when Celestia spoke up. "Not to seem rude Twilight, but there are important matters we must discuss." Twilight nodded and took a seat on another couch as Celestia turned to me. "Now Blake, we have both good and bad news for you, which would you like to hear first?"

_That's never a good sign. _"I think I prefer the good first, telling me the bad first would make me less receptive to the good."

Celestia nodded. "A good observation. Very well. But first, my sister and I would like to see the extent of the wounds you received from the timberwolves if you would allow it."

I nodded. "I have no problem with that; however, the wounds have already been healed; only scars remain. I don't know how useful it will be, but you're welcome to see for yourself." I stood and began to unbutton my shirt.

"That is quite alright, my sister and I know of a spell that will allow us to see the damage as it was, without actually harming you." Luna spoke up for the first time since we got to the library.

I finished taking my shirt off and Luna's horn glowed, as did my side and shoulder. A moment later, the scars rippled and morphed back into the wounds they once were, though there wasn't any pain.

All four of their eyes widened and their jaws dropped. Spike quickly averted his eyes and left the room. Twilight looked like she was about to be sick, but couldn't seem to take her eyes off of my 'injuries'. A moment later the spell was released and my body returned to the way it had been before.

"Those were serious injuries. We are both sorry that you had to go through that, but we are glad that you were there to aid two of our subjects and save them from a far worse fate." Celestia said.

"My sister is correct; however, I believe it is time to inform Blake of the news we spoke of." Luna said, rather matter-of-factly.

"You are quite right Luna. Alright Blake, the good news is that despite a few… inconveniences, the spell that brought you here seems to have worked even better than planned. When you were brought here, your physiology was altered to allow you to live on an Equestrian diet, as we are herbivores. Since some of our foods are either somewhat somewhat toxic or lack nutrition to humans, the spell was supposed to make you able to eat them. However, instead of simply making you able to ingest those foods, it has made you completely immune to poisons of all kinds. In addition, your physical and mental tastes have been altered to allow you to taste these foods as we do. I believe you'll be pleasantly surprised by some of them."

Twilight interjected. "What do you mean by that Princess? Are… are humans _carnivores?!_" She seemed rather alarmed.

Celestia smiled that motherly smile. "No my faithful student, they are omnivores, capable of eating both plant and animal matter. But fear not, as I have said, Blake has been adapted to our diet. Even if he had not, we would not have brought him here if we thought him to be a danger." This seemed to calm her down quite a bit.

Celestia and Luna turned back to me. "I believe _I_ should be the one to be the bearer of the bad news Blake, as it is my fault that there is bad news to begin with."

Celestia interjected, "Now Luna, don't be too hard on yourself. There's no way of knowing that what happened wouldn't have happened regardless." _Why do I really not like the sound of that?_

Luna sighed. "I know sister, but the question will remain in my mind." Luna turned her gaze back to me. "Blake, I am unsure of a way to soften this blow… When the spell was cast to bring you here, it caused a problem; we cannot know if this problem arose from the spells backfire or if it would have occurred regardless. The spell damaged the Veil of Magic bound to your world, and when it healed, it cut all forms magic off from the planet…" Twilight gasped at this.

"I'm sorry Luna, I have no idea what that means." I stated.

She sighed again and hung her head. "It means that we cannot bring any more humans to this world. You are last human that will ever set foot on Mythis…" She looked like she was about to cry. "That is not the worst of it, however. You have also been cut off from your world_…_"

I was confused at this. "I don't understand, you told me that before you brought me here."

Luna shook her head. "You misunderstand Blake; it is not simply your body that has been cut off, but your _soul_ as well. Each life-bearing world has both its own Veil of Magic and its own afterlife."

The realization hit me like a freight train and a chill went down my spine; "Y-you mean…" I managed to choke out, hoping against hope that I had somehow misinterpreted what she had just told me..

Luna looked up at me, tears streaming down her face. Her voice was barely a whisper. "Yes… You will never see your loved ones again, in this life or the afterlife… and it is _my_ fault…" She dropped her gaze back to the floor when she finished.

I felt my mind shatter like a pane of glass and my whole body went numb. I felt myself stand and begin walking, but I was oblivious to everything around me. Had I been more aware, I would have seen and heard Luna slump to the floor, sobbing.

This dream just became my worst nightmare…


	7. Reconciling

**Shade the Dark Latios - That's not all magic has done, but you'll hafta stay tuned to find out what other surprises this magical land has in store for our hero.**

**GhostChris - As long as I don't become the next M. Night, I'll be more than happy to put in twists and turns to keep you all guessing.  
**

**A/N - Not much news this week. Who besides me is glad the weather is finally warming up? I like winter well enough, but I also like the fact that I actually got to take my motorcycle out on the road for the first time this year yesterday.**

My body was on autopilot, my mind too overloaded with emotion to even care where I was going. I couldn't even tell if the sun was still up or not. I was shown that, contrary to my beliefs, there was in fact an afterlife, and I had taken solace in being able to see my loved ones again there if the princesses weren't able to bring them here. It was that thought that gave me peace when I came here; now, that peace has been torn from me, leaving only sorrow, remorse, and anger.

I wanted to be angry at the princesses for doing this to me, but I couldn't… I could have gone to the next life and not waited to see everyone again, but I chose to come here instead; this is _my_ fault. I didn't regret my decision, but instead lamented the consequences.

I didn't know how far or for how long I walked; I didn't even know if anyone tried to stop me. By the time my mind finally came around enough for me to be aware of what was going on around me, I was surrounded by trees. The area around me had a gloomy, threatening feel to it, but I hardly noticed it in the state of mind I was in. I noticed that the moon was out and it was full.

Just when I thought my mind was calming down, a fresh wave of crushing sorrow washed over me, forcing me to my knees. I could feel fresh tears beginning to stream down my face, following channels laid by tears I was unaware I had been shedding before. I began to sob quietly, not caring if any who might have come to find me saw me like that. I couldn't tell how long I knelt there, wallowing in my sorrow, when I was suddenly brought back to reality by a harshly cold wind that carried that same fetid stench I smelled when I confronted the timberwolves.

Part of me felt like not caring, just laying back and becoming a meal for the wooden creatures; at least they wouldn't go after any ponies with full bellies. The majority of me however, was shocked that I could even think like that. I was determined not to give up like that, even if my situation became hopeless. I had no idea how many there were, how far away they were, or even if they were coming for me at all. There was plenty of light from the moon, as it seems that I managed to stop in the middle of a small clearing. If these wolves were anything like the ones back home, I doubted I would know they were coming until one sank its fangs into me.

Quickly weighing my options, I decided the best course of action was to scrape together a fire from the numerous twigs, small branches and tufts of dry grasses strewn about the clearing. It would not only help me to see better, but hopefully would dissuade potential threats from getting too close. I was hoping that these wolves would be more afraid of fire due to the… combustible… nature of their bodies.

I quickly set to work, gathering piles of tinder and kindling to get my safety fire going, keeping my vigil up at all times. With that done, I quickly pulled out my pocket survival kit, a sense of relief at having decided to bring it washed over me. I didn't dwell on that however, instead quickly opening up the kit to pull out a small firesteel and a piece of waterproofed tinder. I set the tinder down in a small 'bird's nest' of dried grasses and small twigs I had laid in the center of the clearing and struck the firesteel over it. The bundle took fairly quickly, and I began building it up. Within a few minutes, I had a relatively substantial fire going, enough to light the clearing I was somewhat. I had no idea if the wolves would be fazed by the young fire, but it gave me a sense of hope and safety regardless.

The fire quickly began growing in size, illuminating more and more of the clearing and the tree line beyond. Taking stock of the situation, I noticed several shapes moving just beyond the edge of the clearing, illuminated by the fire light. The shapes seemed to retreat almost as soon as the light struck them; I couldn't tell if they were just trying to remain hidden, or if they were being scared off. Deciding not to take chances, I decided to play it safe and stick close to the fire. Unfortunately I realized that there was nowhere near enough fuel to keep the fire going all night.

I was looking around for alternatives, as I knew making a break for it would be tantamount to suicide, especially since I had no idea how far or in which direction the tree line of the forest was. I had just about given up hope of finding a solution when I heard a distant voice call out. I couldn't make out what it was saying, but I had a strong suspicion they were calling for me. I was so focused on trying to determine the direction the voice's owner was coming from that I almost didn't notice the wolves taking off into the forest.

The voice called out again, definitely calling my name, and definitely female; though I couldn't make out who it belonged to just yet. "_BLAKE_!" The third time I heard the voice call out, I was able to tell roughly what direction it was coming from.

_Was that…_ "TWILIGHT!" I shouted back in the direction I heard her calling from.

A moment later, I heard her call out again, though she wasn't calling my name this time. "_HE'S OVER HERE_!" _So it's not just her, they got a search party together for me…_

I put the last of the fuel on the fire to make it bigger and more visible, hoping that would attract their attentions better. I only had to wait a few minutes before I heard the rustle of something headed in my direction at what I considered a jogging pace. It wasn't long after that a familiar purple unicorn trotted into the clearing, accompanied by a certain orange cow… pony? "Thank Celestia you're alright Blake! We've been worried sick." Twilight exclaimed as she walked up to me, Applejack right next to her. "I wanted to go after you and bring you back to the library, but the princesses said to give you time to think. I don't think any of us would have thought you'd go into the Everfree forest." She sounded somewhat winded.

I sighed and knelt down, hugging Twilight. "Thanks girls, I'm sorry I worried everyone, I just snapped when Luna told me the news." I was looking at the ground as I spoke, still hugging Twilight, as much to comfort myself as to comfort her.

"That reminds me, Twilight never did tell us what all this was about." Applejack said.

"… Could you tell her Twilight? I don't see any reason not to tell her… I… I-I just can't bring myself to say it right now…" I could feel my eyes start to glisten with fresh tears again; I gritted my teeth to fight them back.

I felt Twilight nod into my shoulder. "Something happened when Blake was brought here; we're not sure what… whatever it was made it impossible for Blake to go home… either in the physical or the metaphysical sense…"

Applejack's face screwed up in confusion. "What in tarnation's that s'posed ta mean?" She almost sounded worried to hear the answer.

"It means that Blake can never see any of the loved ones he left behind to come here again… not even when he passes on…" I hugged Twilight tighter as she said that, and she returned it, wrapping both her forelegs around me comfortingly.

Applejack took a moment to contemplate what Twilight said before it sunk in and she placed a hoof over her mouth while her ears drooped and her eyes started watering. "Oh mah stars Sugarcube… that… that's terrible…" She walked over and joined Twilight in hugging me, wrapping me tightly enough that I knew she was there, but not tight enough to hurt.

I had no idea how long we sat there; just hugging in silence as the fire died down behind me, until Twilight broke the hug. "I know this is hard Blake; I won't pretend to know what you're going through, but we need to get out of the forest." Her horn lit up momentarily before a purple bolt of light shot up and above the canopy, bursting into a purple shimmering firework that hung in the air. "That will let the others know that we found you and to rendezvous at the library."

I nodded my head as I stood again, wiping away a few tears in the process. "Alright Twilight, let's get outta here. It's going to take me awhile to come to terms with this, but this isn't exactly the best place to do it."

She nodded silently and we began trekking our way out of the forest. It took us nearly an hour of fortunately uneventful walking to get to the forest entrance. _How long was I out of it?_ "So Blake, what happened while you were out there?" Twilight asked, breaking the silence.

I sighed. "If it's ok with you, I'd like to wait to tell that until everyone's back at the library. I'm sure they're all going to want to hear about it, and I don't want to keep repeating it."

Twilight nodded in understanding. "Ok Blake, that sounds fair."

Once we exited the forest, we made our way back to the library as Twilight said. As we made our way through town towards the library, I couldn't help but notice how empty the streets were. "Hey Twilight, where is everyone? They weren't all out looking for me, were they?"

She shook her head. "No, only a few of us were out there, most ponies don't come out after dark."

We walked the rest of the way to the library in silence. When we arrived, Twilight used her magic to open the door. Once the three of us stepped inside, I noticed several other ponies already there. "Oh, it looks like we're the last ones back." Twilight said, somewhat surprised.

I looked around the room to see that Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Lyra, Vinyl, and Princess Celestia were all looking at me with relief. Princess Luna was also there; however, her gaze was cast towards the floor, her ears flat against her head while she sat on the floor. It looked like she had been crying. "What's wrong Luna, Were you _that _worried about me?"

She didn't take her gaze from the floor as I approached, but she seemed to be shuffling away somewhat. "Blake… I can't ever express my regret for what has happened… can you ever forgive me my transgressions against you?"

I closed the distance between us, and when I was right in front of her she finally looked up to me with puffy red eyes. I looked back down at her for a tense moment before replying. "No Luna, I can't ever forgive you." Her teary eyes widened with shock and I heard a chorus of gasps from around me. Before anyone could react, I knelt down and hugged the lunar princess. "I can't _forgive_ you Luna, because I never _blamed_ you. You and your sister couldn't have known that would happen, and it would be wrong of me to fault either one of you for that. So I can't forgive you Luna, because there's nothing _to_ forgive."

Her forelegs shot out to either side of me, wrapping around me and returning my embrace. I could feel her slender form begin to shudder slightly as she began to weep silently against my shoulder. After she had calmed down somewhat, I pulled back enough to look her in the eyes. "What do you say, Luna; friends?"

Her eyes widened again before she pulled me back into her embrace. "I would be honored to call you my friend, Blake." She whispered into my ear, her voice shaking slightly.

The others apparently heard this, as there was a quiet chorus of 'aww's coming from around us. We were suddenly enveloped in a white feathered wing. I looked up to see Celestia wrapping her wings around us in hug, with a warm, motherly smile. "I can count the number of times my sister has wept over the course of our long lives on one of your hands. It is easy to see that she truly regrets what has happened, as do I. Many of my ponies would not be so quick to forgive. I'm glad to see you have handled this as well as you have." This caused a spark of anger to flare up inside me; I _wasn't_ handling this well, I was tearing apart inside.

It took a force of will to keep myself from snapping and telling her exactly how I felt. Luna seemed to pick up on this. "Sister, I believe it would be best if we gave Blake some time to deal with this." She broke her embrace with me and stood next to her sister.

I looked up and offered a weak smile. "Thank you Luna, while it may seem so, I am definitely _not_ handling this well. It's going to take me some time to come to terms with this, if I ever do. This is something too big to try and assimilate all at once though, so the best thing for me to do is to try and keep my mind off it and deal with it a little at a time so I don't break down again."

Celestia nodded at this. "Very well Blake, if you feel that is best. We'll respect your wishes and refrain from bringing it up unless you wish us to."

The whole time we were talking, everyone but Twilight and Applejack had confused looks on their faces. As I got back to my feet, Vinyl spoke up. "Dude, what's goin' on; what's with all the depressing talk?"

I sighed. "Well, I'm sure you're all going to find out eventually, and I see no reason to hide it…" I took a few deep breaths to steady myself.

Rarity interrupted, "Darling, if it's something that's difficult for you, you don't need to tell us if you don't feel ready to."

I shook my head. "No, I may as well get it over with now, because it'll probably just be harder later. I'm not sure exactly how it happened, as I know almost nothing about magic, but basically the spell that brought me here backfired and caused some damage that prevents me from _ever_ returning to my homeworld or going to its afterlife; which means I can never see my loved ones there ever again." I had to pause for a few more breaths to keep myself from cracking. "It also prevents other humans from being brought here, meaning that I'm effectively the last human ever to walk the face of Mythis." There was silence for a moment, and I started to worry that I would either need to explain it again, or that they didn't believe me.

That didn't last long though, as Rarity walked over to me, and reared onto her hind legs to hug me. That was enough to cause me to sink to my knees, as it was taking everything I had just to keep myself standing. The others quickly followed Rarity in attempting to comfort me, offering an indecipherable chorus of apologies and condolences. Even though I couldn't make out what was being said, it was comforting to know that they cared so much about me after such a short time.

Eventually the group hug broke, and I noticed that even the princesses had joined in. Once everyone had given me some space, Celestia spoke up. "There's one more thing we wish to discuss before we must depart. We would not bring you to our world just to fend for yourself, so as I'm sure you've already guessed; you'll be staying with Twilight for the time being. We were also going to gift you one hundred bits to help ease your transition; however, due to your heroic actions in defending two of my subjects, and the injuries you received in the process, we feel that this amount is insufficient. We will instead be gifting you with five hundred bits to do with as you please."

Rarity spoke up again. "What about his predicament? Surely that deserves some form of compensation!"

I placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's ok Rarity, there isn't a way to compensate for something like that, and I wouldn't want anything anyway. The only way to cope is with time and the support of friends."

She looked up to me, eyes shimmering, "Alright Blake, I believe I speak for everypony when I say we'll be here for you if you need us." This was met with various affirmations.

Celestia spoke again. "Sadly, we must take our leave; as much as we wish to stay, we've still royal duties to perform. Your gift shall arrive in the morning, Blake. We would both like for you to visit us in Canterlot whenever you wish."

With that, the princesses walked out of the library, Luna glancing back at me as she walked through the door. Once they had left, Rainbow Dash flew up next to me. "So Blake, what happened in the Everfree? You were out there for like three hours."

Rarity spoke up before I could answer. "Rainbow Dash! After a traumatic day like today, I'm sure Blake would like nothing more than to get some rest and take his mind off of things, not relive more painful memories."

Rainbow dash huffed and crossed her forelegs over her chest. I decided to speak up. "Actually Rarity, I don't mind talking about that, plus I did promise Twilight I'd tell everyone once we got back to the library." They all gathered around me. "I don't remember any of the walk out into the forest; the first thing I do remember is coming back to my senses in a clearing. I don't know how long I was there, but I just sat there for a long time and wept; I didn't stop until I smelled that same fetid stench from the day before when I fended off the timberwolves. Part of me just wanted to lay back and become a meal." They all gasped at that. "But I knew I couldn't do that, so I built a small fire to keep them at bay. I could hear and see them moving at the edge of the clearing, waiting for what little fuel I had for my fire to burn out. I was about to throw the last of it on when Twilight started calling out for me, driving the timberwolves away; which is good, because I have no idea how many of them there were."

None of them made a sound for a few seconds until Twilight spoke up. "I was meaning to ask you about that; how _did_ you start that fire? It would have taken way too long to set anything up on the spot; did you already have something to start it with?" She gasped. "Do humans have _magic_?!"

I shrugged. "Not that I'm aware of. I just used this." I pulled out my survival kit. "It's a pocket-sized survival kit, it has things for starting fires, catching fish, cutting wood, some basic first aid, signaling for help, and a few multi-purpose tools for whatever might come up. Feel free to take a look if you want."

Twilight took the kit with her magic, opening it up as the others crowded around her to get a better look. She began pulling various pieces out with her magic, taking several minutes to examine the miniature multitool I had stored, then moved on to the firesteel. It took nearly a minute, but she eventually discovered how to strike it with the small striker to make sparks.

She looked over to me as she handed the kit back. "I get how most of that works, but how did you start a fire with just that strange metal stick? And what do you have to cut wood with?"

I reopened the kit and took out one of the tinder bundles. "I used the firesteel, which is that metal stick, to ignite this." I held it up to show her. "It's a piece of cotton soaked in a wax-like substance that will ignite easily and burn for several minutes."

Rainbow dash flew over and looked at it closer. "I don't see any cotton! It just looks like a little colored tube."

I chuckled. "Well, you're not wrong; the cotton is inside the tube, which is just a piece of a plastic straw that I sealed on both ends to make the whole thing waterproof." I put the tinder away and pulled out a length of wire with metal rings on either end. "This is the thing that cuts wood; it's called a wire saw, and while it's not terribly efficient, it's better than nothing."

Fluttershy spoke up in her quiet voice. "What about that little knife? It looked like it might be… dangerous."

I nodded. "It can be, if you're not careful, but it's mostly used for cutting, like lashings for a shelter; or stripping small branches for use as kindling, things like that." I wasn't about to tell them that you could tie it to a stick and use it as a weapon. She nodded, seeming to understand.

Twilight spoke up. "Well girls, it's getting late, and I'm sure Blake would like to get settled in and try to get some rest after a long day like today. I'm sure he'll be willing to answer more question later."

Voicing their agreements, the others began filing out, expressing various goodbyes and condolences as they left. Soon enough, it was just me and Twilight. I took a quick look around the main room. "Where's Spike?"

"Oh, he's asleep already; he is just a _baby_ dragon after all. Now, let me show you where you'll be staying." She led me up a small flight of stairs to a loft with a bed and a basket with a sleeping Spike in it. "This is where Spike and I sleep; you'll be in this room."

She led me to a door on the opposite wall from her bed. She used her magic to open the door. On the other side was a large roll-away mattress with sheets and pillows on the floor. There was another door that looked like it led out to the balcony I had seen earlier. "This is your room, we were just using it for storage before, but you can do whatever you like with it to make it feel homier. There's a washroom adjacent to the main loft room, the door is on the right as you leave this room. I have several hygiene products already, but feel free to buy your own if you'd like. You should also invest in a toothbrush and toothpaste; Colgate, our resident dentist can help you with that. If you need anything else, I'll be right out here. So feel free to ask. Oh, and Spike will make breakfast for us in the morning."

"Thanks Twilight; I doubt I'll get much sleep tonight with all that's happened, but I appreciate you doing all this for me."

She smiled warmly. "It's no problem Blake, I'm sure we'll get along just fine. Now, before I head to bed myself, is there anything you need?"

I looked around for a moment. "No, I think I'm good for the night. Goodnight Twilight."

She smiled at me again. "Goodnight Blake, I'll see you in the morning." With that, she left to her own bedroom, sparing one last glance back to me as she did.

I sighed and turned towards my bed, I knew I wasn't going to get any sleep, but I could at least check it out and see what I had to work with. After a quick inspection, I found the bed to be comfortable, if a little soft. When I was done with that, I decided to head out to the balcony and do some reflecting in the company of the stars.

At least I'll have friends to help me through this…


	8. A New Day

**A/N - Howdy everypony! Only have one bit of news today: one of my hidden achievements is getting close to being unlocked, so I'm going to set up a poll on my page asking if you'd rather have a double-update of this story or a one-shot as a reward. I'm thinkin' I'll leave the poll open until I post chapter 10 on the 22nd. Remember to read, review, and enjoy!**

The waning of night into predawn found me sitting on the balcony of my new home, legs through the rungs of the railing with my arms folded on top of it and my head resting on them, looking at the sky. I had been like that for some time, just staring at the stars and moon, finding some comfort in the stillness and quiet beauty of the night.

I was suddenly met with an unbidden urge to sing, and upon relenting to that urge, I found myself singing a song that seemed to be coming solely from within me. I had never heard a song like this before, and the lyrics and melody fit my mood perfectly, as if they were being woven from my tattered emotions.

Sometime after I began, I heard the door to the library open and shut quietly, followed by the deep breathing of someone trying to fight back tears. Not long after, I heard Twilight's voice join my own, singing about better days and the magic of friendship overcoming all suffering. My sorrowful lament quickly became a somewhat more hopeful duet, though I could tell that Twilight could feel at least some of my pain through the song; and I in turn, could feel her reassurances.

When the song finally ended, as unbidden as it had began, I felt hope stirring in my heart, and it made me feel a lot better. Twilight walked over and sat next to me, looking at the ground below for a long moment before turning to me with tear-filled eyes. "Oh Blake… what have we _done_?"

I reached over and wrapped my arm around her, pulling her into a half-hug, using my other hand to wipe away the tears she had shed for me. "_You_ didn't do anything Twilight, nor did the princesses. They offered me a second chance at life, and I accepted the offer. I don't think they would have made the offer if they thought this might happen, at least not without telling me about it. They told me they planned to bring other humans here as well if I could get along here well enough, so I don't think they had any idea that this would happen; I don't blame them, or anyone else, it was a product of chance, nothing more." That wasn't a lie, though my heart sorely wanted _something_ to blame.

Twilight looked over to me with a mixture of curiosity and concern. "What do you mean they 'gave you a second chance at life'?" She sounded like she might be afraid of the answer, and I didn't blame her.

I took a deep breath to give myself a moment to think as well as to steady myself. "I'm not sure there's a nice way to say this Twilight, but before I came here, I… died… No, that isn't quite right, I didn't just die, I was… murdered… by another human…" Her face lit up with shock when she heard that. "The princesses came to me between that life and the afterlife and offered me a chance to come here, to live again and make new friends and have experiences I never could have had on Earth. It took some convincing, but I finally decided to agree and come here."

She looked back to the ground below. "But, why… _why_ would a human do that to another?! It doesn't make any sense!" She sighed heavily when she finished.

"I don't know Twilight; I don't know what drives some to kill others. I _do_ know what he was after though. He wanted money, though that shouldn't be something worth killing over."

She looked back to me again. "Couldn't you have defended yourself?"

I sighed and shook my head. "I wasn't the only one there. My wife was with me." She gasped and fresh tears welled in her eyes. "I could have probably defended myself better, but that would have risked her getting killed instead, and I couldn't let that happen, so I did what I could to make sure it didn't."

"I don't understand, what could he have done to hurt your wife if you had tried to stop him?" Her voice was sounding distressed at this point.

"Our technology is very different from what I've seen here so far. We have weapons that I doubt you'd believe. The weapon he had is called a gun; it's a device, handheld in this case, that uses small, controlled explosions to launch small chunks of copper-coated lead called bullets at high speeds. These weapons can easily kill at fifty meters or higher. He had one of these weapons, and so did I; the problem was, if I had tried to defend myself with my weapon, he would have been able to react and kill me before I could get it ready to use. So instead, I rushed him, pulling the gun away from pointing at my wife, causing it to point at me. It went off and hit me, but I managed to knock him out before my body gave out from the damage. I died with my wife cradling me on the ground, begging me not to die…" Twilight was openly crying by the time I finished.

I leaned over and fully embraced her, allowing her to cry into my shoulder, taking deep breaths to restrain my own tears. The sun slowly began to peek over the horizon as we sat there in relative silence. I couldn't tell how long we had sat there before Twilight managed to steady herself and pull away. "You've been through so much…" She gently placed a hoof on my cheek; it was surprisingly soft, almost like a human hand. "Yet you've been so kind… You didn't deserve any of what's happened to you."

I smiled and placed a hand on her hoof, squeezing it gently. "Thank you Twilight; it's kind of you to say that…" I looked over to the rising sun. "I think that's enough of that kind of talk for one day though. Since we're obviously both up for the day, why don't we get ready for it? I don't know about you, but I like to start my day with a nice, hot shower." I had a somewhat chipper note to my voice, feeling better about what had happened after being able to talk openly about it.

Twilight sniffled and nodded. "You're right, we have a lot to do today to get you settled in, and you'll need somepony to show you around so you know where everything is. Fortunately, Ponyville is fairly small, so it's easy to memorize where things are; and the library is towards the center of town, so it's easy to get most anyplace from here. We'll also need to stop by town hall to get you registered as a resident, so you can get an address and mail can be delivered to you, among other benefits. Now, I'll go wake Spike up so he can get started on breakfast for us."

I just shrugged and got up to follow her. She looked back at me. "By the way, the water here is heated by magic, so don't worry about using it all up." She turned and started back into the main room before I had a chance to answer. I decided that while she was rousing Spike that I would go ahead and take my shower. I made a mental note to ask Twilight how much of what they had was magic and how much was technology driven.

Twilight's selection of hygiene products was more limited and practical than Fluttershy's had been, though there was a jumbo tub of bubble bath solution tucked away in a corner outside the tub. After a long, hot and _very_ relaxing shower, I stepped out of the shower and opened the linen closet… to find that there were no towels… _Probably should've looked beforehand._

I opened the door to the main bedroom just a crack and called to Twilight to see if I could get her or Spike to bring me one. A moment later though, I was startled when there was a bright purple flash and a small pressure wave right outside the door. I stumbled back a step and tripped over the lip of the bathtub, sending me tumbling backwards into the shower, taking the curtain with me.

I heard the door quickly open. "Oh my gosh, Blake, are you ok?" Twilight asked somewhat frantically.

I groaned and tried to get up, grateful that the shower curtain was covering up my naughty bits. "Yeah, I'm ok. I was just going to ask for a towel, there aren't any in the linen closet."

I managed to get up out of the shower with the curtain still wrapped around my midsection. Fortunately it somehow hadn't taken the rod with it when I pulled it down.

Twilight looked at me quizzically. "Why are you covering yourself up like that?"

I groaned internally, not wanting to explain it again. "It's a human thing; we have taboos about others seeing certain areas of our bodies, which is part of why we wear clothes, since we don't have any natural means of covering those areas."

Twilight looked me over for a moment, seeming to contemplate that. She turned around hastily, calling for Spike to bring me up a towel. I thought I saw a blush forming as she turned away from me to head back downstairs. Spike came clambering up the stairs less than a minute later carrying a large towel over his head with both hands.

I had moved back to the small bathmat so I wasn't dripping water everywhere, but I had left the door open for the dual purpose of letting the steam out and signaling Spike that was where he should bring the towel. "Sorry about that, I forgot to put them away after I washed them yesterday." The little purple dragon said as he trotted in with the towel for me. He handed me the towel and quickly excused himself, shutting the door behind me to give me some privacy while I dried myself off. I waited until I couldn't hear his footsteps anymore before I dropped the curtain covering me.

After I was all toweled off and dressed, I made my way downstairs to meet up with Twilight and Spike for breakfast. As soon as I hit the bottom of the small staircase, my nose was hit with a certain familiar aroma… "Is that… _ham_? I thought you guys were herbivores."

Twilight's face screwed up in confusion from her spot at what I assumed was a dinner table. "Well, I don't know what ham is, but Spike's making eggs and fried daisies for breakfast."

I just shrugged and took a spot at the table across from her. The table was just the right height so that fully sitting would make me too low, while sitting in a chair would make me too high. I found a happy medium by sitting on my knees, however. A moment later, Spike came out carrying three plates with sunny side up eggs, buttered toast and piled high with what I could only guess were the fried daisies. They looked strange, but the smell was good enough to make my mouth water. I had thought that I would never get to taste meat again, but it appeared that ponies had equivalents that I could enjoy.

Twilight took the plates from the little dragon and set one down in front of each of us. "Blake, do humans have any pre-meal customs that they observe?"

I nodded. "Some of us will precede the meal with a prayer to whatever deity they might believe in; but I don't hold any such beliefs, so there aren't any that I personally observe, other than to wait until everyone is seated and ready to eat, though that's just good manners as far as I'm concerned."

"Oh, alright then. Well, dig in everypony."

Breakfast was uneventful; the conversation mostly consisting of me answering Twilight's various questions regarding the different religions that humans had. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the daisies tasted as good as they smelled. When breakfast was over, I helped Spike carry the dishes into the kitchen and wash them. There was a knock at the door just as Spike and I had finished the last of the dishes.

I walked out into the main room to see Twilight open the door with her magic. On the other side was a white, blue-eyed Pegasus wearing golden armor with a Roman galea-style helmet with a two-tone blue brush. At the center of the breastplate was a blue, five-pointed star. He was also wearing shoes very reminiscent of Celestia's. "Good morning Miss Sparkle. We have a delivery from the princesses directed towards a 'Blake Marshall'. Is he available to receive the delivery?"

Twilight nodded to the armored pony. "Sure, I'll… Oh, he's actually right here. There's a royal guard with a delivery for you Blake."

I walked over to the door. "Thanks Twilight, I got it from here." Twilight smiled and walked off. "Hi, I'm Blake. The princesses told me to expect you today, though honestly, I didn't expect you quite this early."

The guard raised an eyebrow. "Is this a bad time sir?"

"Not at all, I just didn't expect all this to be put together and delivered so quickly."

The guard blinked. "Understandable sir; the princesses ordered this to be rushed to you as soon as was possible. Would you like me to carry it inside for you?"

I shook my head. "Nah, I can get it. Though I'm not sure what all they sent me." All I know about is a gift of bits."

The guard nodded. "That is correct. The princesses have also included this." He reached into the breastplate of his armor and pulled out an envelope. "I'm not privy to what's inside, but my instructions were clear to deliver these to nopony but you."

"Alright, let's get this package inside; I'm sure you have more important things to do than chat with me all day. Besides, I gotta figure out a safe place for this."

With a nod, the guard led me out to a chariot being drawn by presumably himself and the other Pegasus that was still harnessed to it. In the passenger compartment was a fairly large sack, presumably holding the bits the princesses told me about. I hefted the sack, guessing it to only weigh around fifteen kilos, and thanked the guard before bringing it inside.

Twilight seemed to be absorbed in a book when I returned inside, so I decided not to bother her. Instead taking the sack upstairs and looking for a suitable place to store it. There was a decently sized chest in one corner of the room that I decided would do nicely for the time being. The chest looked like it had a loop to place a padlock, and I decided to get one if I could find one in town today.

I decided it would be a good idea to keep a few bits on me for when we went into town. Not knowing how much a bit was worth, I decided to keep fifty on me, stashed in various pockets. After the bits were secure, I decided it was time to open the letter. Inside was a folded piece of parchment. I unfolded it to reveal what looked like a silvery scrap of paper with a picture of a train and writing detailing what it was. It was readily apparent that this was a permanent train ticket. It went on to detail that this ticket would offer me passage to any station that Equestrian trains ran to. Once that was done, I moved on to the piece of parchment, which turned out to be a note.

"_Friend Blake, I wished to express again my regrets for what has befallen you. I know this will in no way make up for your hardships, but I have decided to include this train ticket as a personal gift to you, in the hopes that you might use it to visit me in Canterlot when you wish. I am… still learning the nuances of friendship, but I thought we might converse over tea; I would love to learn more of your world and experiences, and have much I wish to share with you as well. My waking hours are usually during the night, though I have notified my guards to awaken me should you come to call while I am resting. I look forward to our next meeting and I wish you well in your new endeavors._

_P.S. As a further gift, my sister and I have sent a commission to Miss Rarity of Ponyville to craft you an entire wardrobe for both warm and cold weather; as we are well aware of your needs for such garments and we wish to ensure that you are not forced to wear the same outfit every day._

–_Luna_

Luna's writing style was very elegant and was entirely done using very intricate calligraphy. This letter must have taken her quite some time to write. I made it a point in the near future to visit her and her sister in Canterlot, wherever that was. For the moment though, I decided it would be best to go into town and start on the many tasks for the day.

I folded the letter up and placed it on the small dresser I was provided with before heading downstairs to see if Twilight was ready to head out. I found Twilight still absorbed in a book, though she seemed significantly farther ahead in it that I would have thought possible in such a short timeframe. "Hey Twilight." She looked up when I addressed her. "Is there a specific time you wanted to take me around town today? I know there's a lot to do."

She smiled at me. "We can leave now if you'd like, I'm just rereading an old history book to see if there's anything I've forgotten since I read it two weeks ago." With that she hopped down from the chair she had been sitting on and I followed her out of the library.

"Hey Twilight, before we leave, how many bits do you think I'll need to get everything? I don't really know exchange rates for Equestrian currency."

She looked up at me. "Well, depending on how expensive you want to go, I would say probably no more than ten or fifteen bits. Colgate offers free exams and sample toothbrushes and toothpaste to first-time clients."

"Alright; well, we might as well head there first and get that out of the way. Besides, I'm sure my breath is pretty ripe right about now, and the sooner I get this done, the sooner I can fix that."

She nodded with a giggle. "Alright, we can do that. Though I can't say how long it'll take. Colgate is usually pretty quick, and as early as it is I doubt she'll have many appointments right now."

We continued to make small talk on the way to the dentist's office. After only a few minutes of walking, we came across an unassuming one story building. The only thing identifying it as a dentist's office was the _giant_ tooth mounted on top of the building. I stepped ahead and opened the door for Twilight, entering closely behind her.

The lobby was sparsely decorated, and sitting at the front desk was a blue unicorn with a mane and tail that was half white and half dark blue. Her eyes were also a deep blue. "Good morning and welcome to Ponyville Dentistry!" She had a huge, toothy grin on her face. "I'm Colgate and I'll be your dentist today! Or any other day for that matter…" _Why do I get the feeling I should be worried?_ "You're a new face! Come on back to the exam room and we'll get started!"

I shrugged nervously and followed her back, Twilight stayed behind in the lobby. I glanced around, finding this place to be the definition of a stereotypical dentist's office. It only took a few seconds to reach the exam room, so there wasn't really time to think about it much. I noticed a small problem as we entered the room, however; the exam chair was built for a pony, and wouldn't accommodate something as big as me.

Colgate seemed to notice this as well, as she eyed the chair, then turned back and looked me up and down, seeming to appraise my size. "Well this won't do, this chair's too small! That's ok though, the room across the hall is built for Minotaurs; we can just hop on over there and get started!" Her enthusiasm should have been comforting, but instead I had the urge to write out a will.

She led the way to the room across the hall, which was significantly bigger than the one we had just left. I actually didn't need to duck to fit through the door, every other door I had encountered so far had the top of its frame set just above eye level; the perfect height to smack my forehead into and give myself a killer headache. The chair itself was fairly large, though not so large that I couldn't fit into it properly. Colgate turned back to me. "Have a seat please mister…"

"Blake, Blake Marshall." I replied.

"Ok Mister Blake!" _Thank God she didn't do it… _I took a seat on the large chair and she leaned it back. "Ok, now open wide!"

Almost an hour later I walked out of Colgate's office with a new set of dental hygiene supplies and breath that was mintier than I thought was possible. Twilight looked up from the magazine she had been reading. "Well, how'd it go?" She asked as we left the Colgate's office.

I shrugged. "About as well as I expected, though that smile of hers is creepy. So, where to next?"

"Well, we could head to town hall, or we could go to the store and pick up whatever you think you need."

"Town hall first, that way I don't have to carry a bunch of stuff around."

And so it went, my new address at the Golden Oaks Library was set up, I was registered as an official citizen of Ponyville, and I got a map of town, so I wouldn't get lost easily if I went out on my own.

Getting my toiletries was equally uneventful, aside from the sales clerk commenting on how masculine the soap I picked out smelled compared to what stallions usually bought. After we left the store, we headed back to the library to drop everything off. "Hey Twilight, if you don't mind, I think I'm gonna walk around town a bit, get a feel for it. I'm sure you have other things to take care of, so I figure that will kill two birds with one stone."

She gasped. "That's terrible; why would anypony want to kill poor, defenseless little birds?!" It sounded half alarmed, half accusatory.

I held my hands up in a calming gesture. "I don't, it's just a saying. I admit it's kind of violent, but all it means is that we would accomplish two tasks either at the same time or with the same activity."

"Oh, I see. Well, it makes sense in context, but I don't really like it; I don't think anypony else will either; ponies are peaceful by nature and violence doesn't usually sit well with us."

I lowered my hands. "Sorry Twilight, I'll try to be more careful about that, it's gonna take some getting used to though."

She nodded "It's ok Blake, if you want, I can teach you proper syntax. But for now, go explore; it'll be good to get to know your way around town."

With that, I bid Twilight a good day and she headed back into the library. I turned and headed towards where the map said Sweet Apple Acres was located.

I could talk to Applejack more and find out where the Cutie Mark Crusader's clubhouse was at the same time.


	9. A Fresh Start

**chipmunkfanatic -** **Why thank you. I do try my best to make sure that things stay interesting.**

**HYBRID BATTLESHIP INFINITY210 - I'm glad you enjoy it. I plan to keep to the Tuesday morning update schedule, so tune in then for new chapters.**

**A/N - Howdy everypony! Another week, another chapter. Not much on the news-front, though is anypony else miffed that there wasn't a new episode this week? Also, don't for get to vote on what you'd like me to post as a reward for you all being awesome; the poll will only be open till next Tuesday, the 22nd of April.  
**

I walked along the path to Sweet Apple Acres at a leisurely pace, wanting to take my time and enjoy the scenery. Off in the distance to my left, I could see Fluttershy's cottage, though I was too far away to make out if the butter-colored Pegasus was home. It took what I guessed was around twenty minutes to for the orchard to come into view; I could see a typical ranch-style farmhouse and a big, red barn surrounded by acres and acres of apple trees. _Guess this place really earns its name_.

Since I hadn't seen Applejack in town, I figured she might be on her farm. Seeing that the barn doors were open, I decided to head there first to see if she might be inside. I approached the open doors and looked inside. Not seeing anyone in plain sight, I decided to knock and announce myself. "Hello? Is anyone in here?"

For a moment, there was no response; figuring there was no one home, I turned to leave. When I did, I came face to face with a bright red pony that was with a short-cropped, orange mane with big, soulful green eyes. He also had a sprig of wheat in his mouth and three freckles under his eyes like Applejack did. He was wearing some kind of yolk for attaching himself to farm equipment, and it looked like the fur over his hooves had been trimmed back, revealing them.

This pony was bigger than most, only being about fifty centimeters shorter than me instead of roughly seventy like most of the ponies I'd met so far. "Well howdy partner, you must be Blake; Applejack told me about you last night, said you were a new resident. What can I do fer ya?"

_Well, he seems nice._ "Hi there. You seem to have me at a disadvantage; you know who _I_ am, but I don't believe we've been introduced before."

"Well shoot, where are mah manners. Name's Big Macintosh, though most folks just call me Big Mac."

I held out my hand, and after a moment, it dawned on the big farm pony what I was doing as he held up a hoof and we shook. "Nice to meet you Big Mac. I was looking for Applejack, any idea where she might be?"

Ne nodded his head and looked off towards a section of the orchard. "Eeyup. She oughta be in tha south orchard 'bout now. Just listen for her buckin' and you'll find 'er."

I nodded. "Thanks Big Mac. I'll see if I can find her. See ya later." With that, I turned and headed in the direction Big Mac had pointed me to. I made sure to keep track of the sun's position, to give me a rough direction to go to get back, as the orchard was rather large and I didn't want to get lost. I wandered around the south orchard for what felt like hours, but was probably closer to forty five minutes. I was ready to head back and see if I had somehow missed her when I heard the *CRACK* of something hard smacking against a tree somewhere relatively close by.

_Finally, I was starting to think I'd never find her out here._ I began walking towards the sound, picking my pace up to a fast walk in case she was ready to move on to the next part of the orchard or even back to the barn. Soon enough I heard another *CRACK*, followed by Applejack grumbling from close by, seemingly right in front of me. "Durn apple worms, always messin' up our crops!" This was followed closely by a dull thunking sound that came from Applejack's direction.

Before I had a chance to call out to Applejack, I was stopped dead in my tracks by a fiery, lancing pain that blossomed from my groin and etched a path up my back and into my kidneys. "Oh God, my giblets!" I groaned as I sunk towards the ground clutching my injured tenders, watching the offending object roll away; a fist-sized red apple with a little green worm poking out.

"Oh ponyfeathers, did Ah just hit somepony?" I heard applejack call out, sounding somewhat closer.

I groaned again and managed to find my voice, "Just me Applejack."

Moments later, I saw the orange cowpony weave her way through a few close-by trees, making her way over to me. "Oh mah gosh, are you alright Blake?" She asked worriedly.

I attempted to get back on my feet, "I'll live, though I'm not sure I'll ever have kids… not like I could anyway, y'know, being one-of-a-kind and all…" I huffed out, still in pain.

Applejack chuckled "Heh heh, yeah, Ah guess you're right; Ah'm just…" She stopped speaking for a moment and her jaw dropped as what she had just said struck her. "Oh mah gosh Blake, Ah'm so sorry, Ah didn't mean it like that!"

I waved a hand dismissively, "Don't worry about it; I know you didn't mean any harm. Besides, I need to come to terms with it at some point."

She moved over next to me as I was talking. "Here, at least let me help ya up; that was one hay of a kick I gave that apple… Ah hope Ah didn't crush yer dumplin's."

I started chuckling at that. "Never heard it put quite like _that_ before." With Applejack's help I managed to get to my feet with a groan. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine in a bit." I said as I rubbed my back over my kidneys.

"Well, Alright Sugarcube; if yer sure. So, what brings y'all way out here anyway?" We started walking back towards where she had been before as she asked me that.

I shrugged. "We didn't really get to talk much before or at the party, so I thought I'd stop by and say hi; maybe see if you wanted to talk some. I know a lot of the others have been really full of questions about where I'm from, and I definitely have questions about this place. Plus, I'd like to get to know all my new friends better."

Applejack looked up to me with a wide smile. "Well that's mighty neighborly of ya Blake. Ah'm afraid there ain't much ta tell about me though; Ah live here on tha farm with mah big brother Big Macintosh, mah little sister Applebloom and mah granny, Granny Smith. Ah was just out here buckin' some apples ta take ta market fer tomorrow. If ya want, Ah can show ya how it's done."

I grinned at the orange farmpony's offer. "Sure AJ, I'd like to see how it's done without hands."

Applejack gave me a confused look. "Well, how do y'all do it _with_ hands?" She asked as we reached a small copse of trees with squat wooden buckets resting underneath them; most were overflowing with apples and the trees above were bare of their sweet fruit.

I shrugged, "We just use a ladder to reach the fruits and pick them by hand, or use harvesting equipment to do it for us; though I'm not really sure how that works, I don't really know much about farming. My thing has always been construction."

"Pickin' 'em one by one sounds tedious, it'd take forever ta harvest this whole orchard like that." She rubbed her chin with a hoof. "Though havin' a machine ta do it fer me would be a big help… actually, we just ran a couple a no-good salesponies outta town a little while back tryin' ta sell somethin' like that; though it ran on magic, and from what Lyra told me, y'all don't have magic where yer from. Fortunately, we got a quicker way ta do it; here, let me show ya!" She said enthusiastically as she backed up to a nearby tree.

I watched as she shifted her weight to her front legs and brought her hind legs off the ground and tucked them under her briefly before launching them at the tree and shaking all the apples off of it in one, powerful buck. Somehow, every apple on the tree fell into one of the buckets without missing. I whistled at the feat. "That was amazing AJ, how'd you do that!?"

She just chuckled at that. "It's all thanks ta Bucky McGillycuddy and Kicks McGee here." She said as she lifted her left and right hind hooves respectively.

Something came to mind just then, "Hey AJ, doesn't that hurt? I mean, I've felt other hooves before, and they were relatively soft. Can your hooves change hardness somehow, or are yours just really used to bucking?"

Applejack scratched the side of her head for a moment before looking down at her hoof. "Ya know, Ah never thought about it before, but you're right; they _do_ seem to get harder and softer depending on what Ah'm doin'. Don't really know why or how though, Twilight might know more; you should ask her later."

"Hmm… that sounds like a good idea, she _does_ seem like the type who'd know something like that. So, mind if I give bucking a shot?"

She chuckled again. _Man she's got a cute laugh._ "Ah don't see why not, though don't go hurtin' yerself, Ah don't wanna hafta haul yer flank all the way back ta the farmhouse."

I nodded an affirmative, "Don't worry, I'll be careful. Now don't laugh too hard, I'm gonna give it a few practice kicks to see just what it takes." She simply chuckled and nodded.

I looked around briefly for a tree that still had fruit. It only took a moment to locate one that looked like it would be relatively easy to handle; I walked up to the tree and planted my left foot gently on it to gauge the distance. After a few adjustments, I was satisfied that I wouldn't injure myself when I kicked it, and pulled my foot back and stomped with a fair amount of force on the tree. It shook, but no apples fell off of it.

I stood back for a moment, eying the tree. _Hmm… guess I need a bit more oomph to get the apples out._ I stood back and adjusted my stance, again measuring to make sure I didn't hurt myself. After a moment, I pulled my left leg up off the ground and shot it forward in a side-kick. This time I had better results, knocking several apples loose and into the buckets; however, there were still many left on the tree.

I adjusted my stance one last time, preparing to unleash the strongest leg strike I knew, the spinning kick that had knocked the timberwolf's head from it's shoulders only two days prior. After my stance and distance judgments were made, I spun quickly on my right foot, planting my left solidly on the trunk of the tree; my foot was saved from the majority of the impact by the polymer shank running through the sole of my hiking boot. This time, when my foot impacted it's trunk, the tree released every single apple that was left on it.

When I looked back, Applejack had a broad grin on her face. "Hoo-wee Blake, where'd y'all learn ta buck like that?"

I returned her praise with a shrug. "I took a few self-defense classes when I was younger, apparently there are more applications for some of that stuff than just keeping yourself safe from attackers."

Applejack's smile dropped somewhat, "Was your world really that dangerous?" She asked, thankfully sounding concerned for me instead of afraid of me.

I shook my head. "Not usually, but it never hurts to take chances, you never know what might happen; it's already paying off for me here."

Her smile returned at this, "That's true. Ah sure could use a competent farm-hoof like you around, a lotta ponies woulda ended up hurtin' themselves tryin ta show off or bein' too gung-ho. Too bad Ah couldn't afford ta pay ya…" She sounded somewhat dejected at that last part.

I smiled as an idea came to mind. "I could come around and lend a helping hand; you don't need to pay me for that."

She shook her head, "Ah couldn't ask ya ta do that Sugarcube, if'n you were gonna work fer me, y'all should get somethin' outta it."

I figured she would say something like that, and already had a rebuttal ready to go. "I _would_ be getting something out of it AJ; the satisfaction of helping a friend." I chuckled slightly, "Plus, it'd be great exercise for me, and I gotta stay in shape somehow."

She chuckled and gave me a broad smile. "Alright alright, y'all made yer case. Help me get these here bushels back to the barn and Ah'll think about it on tha way." She looked around momentarily. "Now where in tha hay did that cart run off to?"

I looked around as well. "I don't remember seeing one out here, are you sure you brought it?"

"Ah know Ah did! That's how Ah got all these baskets clear out here." She said somewhat annoyed. "Now where in tarnation did it go? It couldn'ta just walked away, could it?"She let out a frustrated sigh, "Well, Ah guess there ain't nothin' fer it, we're gonna hafta carry 'em back by hoof."

And so we got to it. There were a dozen bushels in all, meaning that no matter how we sliced it, we were going to be making multiple trips. Before we did so however, I found a few green branches lying on the ground and managed to fashion them into a makeshift yolk for carrying more bushels at a time. When I had them lashed together with some of their own branches, I took my shirt off and wrapped it around the middle of them to provide some padding for my shoulders. By the time I had done that, Applejack had somehow managed to load a bushel onto her own back. Since I had been busy creating my carrying pole, I hadn't seen how she'd done it.

Applejack looked at the yolk quizzically. "What in the hay is _that_ fer, Blake?"

I walked over to a pair of the bushels and knelt down next to them. "I'll show you AJ." And with that, I hooked each end of the yolk through the rope handles of two of the baskets and hefted the whole thing onto my shoulders. "_This_ is what it's for; it'll let me carry twice as many of these baskets per trip."

"That's mighty inventive, think there's enough spare wood ta make one fer me?" After quickly looking around, we discovered that I had used all the suitable wood making the one I was using. With a shrug and an "Oh well" from Applejack, we made our way back to the barn with our payloads of apples.

The walk was made in relative silence; however, I noticed AJ glancing over at me from time to time, seemingly with a slight blush on her face. I didn't call her on it however; instead deciding to mess with her a bit. Figuring the reason for the looks and the blush was my bare torso, I stretched and flexed every now and then when I would notice her looking in my direction; a decade of construction had given me a toned and muscular physique after all. Her blush got just little deeper every time she looked over, confirming my suspicions. I didn't keep it up for too long though, breaking the silence, "Heh heh, enjoyin' the show AJ?"

Her blush turned a deep crimson. "Y'all saw that?"

I smirked mischievously, "Saw what? I didn't see anything. I wasn't putting on a show for you or anything." I said with a wink.

Applejack just rolled her eyes. "Yer terrible Blake." She said with a chuckle.

It took four trips and most of the remaining daylight, but we managed to haul them all back safely. Apple bloom joined us on our third trip, firing off question after question; most of which were directed at me. We also made plans to meet at their tree-house, or the 'Cutie Mark Crusader Headquarters' as she called it, over the weekend. She told me how to get to it from the barn, and the directions were simple enough, so I decided not to bother having either her or her sister show me where it was.

Once we made the final trip back to the barn, Applejack introduced me to her granny, Granny Smith. The elderly lime green mare seemed to right in the middle of her naptime as she kept dozing off. Applejack and I quickly decided it would be best to let her get her rest.

When we were done carrying all the bushels back to the barn, Applejack and I had worked up a sweat and were both breathing hard. "Whew, I gotta say Blake, yer one hay of a hard worker. If ya really wanna help out 'round tha farm, Ah won't say no. Ah'll even look into a way of payin' ya fer yer troubles. Just stop on by whenever ya feel like and we'll find somethin' fer ya ta do."

I held out my hand and Applejack shook it with a smile. "Thanks AJ, I'll try to stop by early so I can help out and we can get more done before it starts to get hot."

The orange farm pony nodded with a wide grin. "That sounds like a smart idea Blake. But fer now, y'all better get headin' back ta Twilight's before it gets dark. It ain't dangerous or nothin' at night, but travelin's easier when ya got light ta see by."

I nodded as I turned to leave. "Good idea AJ. I'll see everyone bright and early tomorrow morning then." And with that, I headed back towards Ponyville, turning around briefly to wave as little Applebloom called out a last farewell. I made my way back into Ponyville just as the last rays of the sun vanished behind the horizon and the moon began its nightly journey across the heavens. I noticed something odd tonight; the previous moon had been full, but tonight there was only a thin crescent. _Odd, I'll hafta ask Twilight about that too._

As the sky blossomed into full night, I noticed something else that I had been too distracted to the previous night; the sheer beauty of the night sky. The sky where I lived on Earth had a fairly starry sky, or so I thought; here, the sky was a vast blue-black tapestry of countless glittering stars, completely blowing away anything I had ever seen on Earth. I had no idea how long I had been looking up at the shimmering sea of stars in the sky before I realized that I had stopped walking and was just standing there on the dirt path, gawking in wonder at what must be a common sight here.

I decided to watch the sky for a little longer before I headed for my new home, and looked for a good place to do so. It only took me a moment to spot a tree off to the side of the road, it seemed the perfect place to sit down, lean back and watch the night sky. Every so often, a shooting star would whiz through the starry sea, painting a white streak across it for just an instant.

I could tell I had been there for some time, as the moon was in a noticeably different spot from where it had been when I sat down. Before I could space out and continue enjoying the splendor again, I heard the muffled clop of hooves making their way towards me through the grass between my resting spot and the path I had been on.

"_There you are_… I was starting to get worried something might have happened…" I heard the familiar voice of Twilight say from my right.

I looked away from the stars to look at her. "Sorry Twilight, I was on my way back from Applejack's farm, and I saw all this." I gestured at the sky.

She looked at me with confusion. "The sky? What's so special about the sky?"

I sighed as I looked back up at it. "I've never seen anything like it… Earth had stars in it's sky too, but there was so much light pollution from all the big cities, you couldn't see but a tiny fraction of what you can here. It's breathtaking to me…"

Twilight walked over and sat down next to me. "I never really stopped to think about it, but you're right… it is beautiful, especially if there are so few stars where you came from."

We sat in silence for awhile and just watched the shimmering expanse, basking in the beauty and each other's company. I wasn't sure how much time had passed when I heard Twilight shuffle a little on the grass, lying down before leaning over and resting against my side. The contact made me smile and I wrapped my arm around her to return it. The moon had moved again in the sky when I was brought back to the world by quiet snores coming from the purple unicorn still wrapped in my arm.

I looked over to her to see that she had fallen asleep with her head resting against my chest. It was then that I decided it was finally time to head back home. Not wanting to wake her, I carefully lifted her onto my back. She shifted slightly as I got to my feet, but remained asleep; she was also lighter than she looked. I made our way back to the library carefully so as to not wake the kind unicorn. It didn't take too long to reach the library, and it was fairly easy to find as the path practically led right to it.

I bent my knees somewhat in order to reach the doorknob without bending. I opened the door and turned sideways before carefully scooting through the door; minding my sleeping passenger so as not to bump her on anything. After a moment of careful navigating, I was safely through the door and closed it behind me. I caught a quick glimpse of the old-fashioned cuckoo clock on the wall which showed that it was just after midnight. I then turned and headed up the stairs in order to tuck Twilight into her bed and make my way to her own.

I pulled back the star-patterned covers of her bed before carefully placing her in it and pulling the sheets gently over her. Twilight shuffled slightly and moaned softly with a slight frown,, but still remained asleep. I leaned over to her and planted a small kiss on her cheek, the fur surprisingly soft, feeling remarkably like skin against my lips.

Twilight smiled at the affection and snuggled herself deeper into the comfort of her bed. I couldn't help but smile at how cute she looked when she was asleep. I turned around and made my way to my room as quietly as I could, trying not to wake either Twilight or Spike, who was already fast asleep in his basket near Twilight's bed. When I got to my room, I removed my sweat-stained clothes and lay them aside, remembering that the princesses had commissioned Rarity to make me a full wardrobe. I decided to make that first on my list after helping Applejack tomorrow.

For now, I decided it would be a good idea to hang them up outside to air out. After that was done, I went into the bathroom and brushed my teeth with the new brush and paste I had gotten from Colgate earlier, finding it to have a light minty flavor and a pleasant tingle. That task accomplished, I headed back to my room, stopping briefly to check on the still-sleeping Twilight, who still had a content smile on her face and was breathing steadily and quietly, indicating she was in a deep sleep now. I tip-toed the rest of the way back to my room and quietly closed the door behind me before turning around and making my way to my new bed. The thought struck me that even though this was my second night here, this would be the first time I would be sleeping in this bed. I didn't think long on this however; as exhaustion caught up with me and I quickly drifted off to sleep.

I could only hope that this sleep wouldn't be a troubled one.


	10. Wish Granted

**HYBRID BATTLESHIP INFINITY210 - I do my best to keep my readers entertained, and i'm glad you enjoyed that little moment.**

**A/N Hello again everypony and welcome to another installment of A Second Chance! Today is the day that the poll is supposed to close, however since there were only two voters with one vote for each, i've decided to leave the poll open for one more week. If there isn't a clear winner by then, I'll make the decision by coin-toss. Enjoy and don't for get to follow/favorite and leave a review if you like what you've read.**

The next morning found me waking up to the sight of the predawn sky as the sun inched its way over the horizon. I sat up in my bed and stretched. I still felt fairly tired, but I was relatively well rested. I got out of bed and made it as best I could, which wasn't much considering it was little more than a large futon mattress on the floor.

Having done that, I walked out of my room to see Twilight and Spike still asleep in their beds. I walked across the room quietly and entered the bathroom to begin my morning routine of showering and brushing my teeth. I also normally shaved before my shower, but I had forgotten to buy a razor; assuming they even existed in this world. I decided to add that to my list of things to ask Twilight later. Before I entered the shower, I checked to make sure the linen closet actually had towels, which it did.

After my shower was done and my teeth were brushed, I cracked the door open to see if Twilight and Spike were awake yet. Seeing as they weren't, and I was only dressed in the towel around my waist, I made a quick but quiet retreat to my room. I had carried my clothes with me, wanting to dry off in a non-steamy location before I put them back on. Fortunately they didn't seem to retain much odor from the previous day's activities.

Once I was dressed and ready for the day, I made my way out of my room to find that Twilight and Spike were finally up. I made my way downstairs to see Twilight reading from what looked like a scroll, with the sounds of breakfast being made coming from the kitchen. "Morning Twi." I said casually.

I seem to have startled her, as she gasped and jumped slightly when I addressed her. "Oh, good morning Blake. How long have you been up?" She greeted with a smile.

I shrugged. "Not really sure, I don't have a watch or anything to keep time with. Long enough to make my bed, brush my teeth and shower though."

Twilight's eyes widened slightly. "You've been up that long? After staying up all night the night before, working hard with Applejack, and then carrying me home after I fell asleep? How can you do all that and not be exhausted?!"

I shrugged again and chuckled. "Practice; I worked construction for nearly a decade. It's a demanding job, so stuff like that isn't too far out of the norm for me. Anyway, I had a few questions I wanted to ask yesterday, but we got a little distracted."

Twilight nodded. "Alright Blake, ask away. I'll answer as best as I can."

I took a moment to decide which question I wanted to ask first. "Okay Twi, something I noticed last night was that the moon was only a sliver of a crescent, but the night before that, it was full; how did that happen?"

"Oh, that's easy!"She exclaimed with a grin. "Princess Luna made the moon full to give everypony out searching for you more light to see by, and since we found you, she changed it back last night."

I wasn't entirely surprised by that answer, in fact, I somewhat expected it. "Ok, next question. I've noticed that hooves seem to harden and soften depending on what's being done with them; is there a reason for that, or am I just imagining things?"

Twilight giggled slightly. "You're definitely not imagining things. It has to do with the magic everypony possesses; it's a subconscious reaction to stimuli that allows for better interaction with our environments. Our coats act the same way, becoming more or less insulating depending on the weather, and even changing their makeup to give them the feel and sensitivity of skin."

"Well that raised more questions than it answered. Though they'll hafta wait till later, I need to get to AJ's farm, I promised to help her this morning."

Twilight perked up at that. "Oh! I forgot to tell you; you don't need to go over there today, she and the others are coming here." I looked at her with confusion, which she returned with a sheepish smile. "Heheh, probably should've mentioned sooner that I sent a letter to Princess Celestia yesterday after you left asking her about the spell she and Princess Luna used to bring you here. She sent a reply saying that she wanted us all to see her in Canterlot today, so everypony will be meeting here, then we'll head to the train station after that."

I cocked an eyebrow at this. "Well _that_ would've been nice to know sooner. Ah well, nothing we can do about it now. So, when do we leave?"

Twilight looked over at the clock briefly. "The others should be here in a few hours, and we'll leave after everypony's here. It's about a two hour trip by train, so you might want to bring something to do."

Before I could reply, Spike came out of the kitchen trying to balance three plates that all seemed as big as he was. I walked over to him and grabbed the plate he had been balancing on his head and setting it in a random spot on the table. "Ok everypony, breakfast is served!" He said proudly.

I looked at the plate to see that there were pancakes with syrup, hash-browns, and a small pile of roasted scallions. All the plates seemed to be equally portioned, so we distributed them, and I sat with my legs tucked under me as I had the previous day before we all started eating. Everything tasted basically the same as it had on Earth, although all the flavors seemed to be enhanced; I was unsure if it was Spike's cooking or my new taste-buds, but I wasn't going to complain. Over the course of breakfast, Twilight began teaching me 'proper Equestrian' as she called it; which seemed to be just a few simple changes, such as replacing the 'body' in words like 'everybody' with 'pony', making it 'everypony' instead. She also taught me about the different terms for ponies, such as 'stallion' and 'mare' for adult males and females respectively, and 'foal' as a generic term for child.

I seemed to be catching on to the new lingo fairly quickly, though that may have been due to my being exposed to it for the past few days. Once breakfast was finished, I again helped Spike clean off the table and wash the dishes before returning to the main room. Twilight had her bags floating in front of her. "Hey Blake, if you'd like to take a book or something with you, you can put it in my saddlebag and I'll carry it for you."

I face-palmed when she mentioned what her bags were called. She looked at me quizzically. "What's the matter Blake?"

I sighed. "It's nothing; I didn't know what those bags were called, and I thought saddlebags might be right, but I didn't mention it because I didn't want anybo- _pony_ to get offended."

Twilight's quizzical look turned to a confused one. "Why would anypony be offended?"

I thought for a moment on how to word my answer. "Because where I'm from, horses are beasts of burden; little more than slaves that aren't smart enough to realize that's what they are, we ride them on saddles and saddlebags are what we use to carry our possessions when we're riding them. I know it sounds cruel, but that's just the way it was. Humans are the only sentient life on Earth, and so most view themselves as masters of all forms of 'lesser life'. I didn't know if anything like that had happened in the past here, and I didn't want to bring it up if it had." I couldn't see the look on Twilight's face as I was looking at the floor in shame of what I had just revealed to her.

Twilight walked over to me so she could look into my eye. "You don't have to be ashamed of that Blake… that's the way your world was. I don't agree with it, but I won't blame or shun you for the actions of your race, and neither will anypony else!" She said warmly.

This cheered me up. "Thanks Twi, that means a lot to me."

Our moment was cut short by the front door slamming open. "Twi! Blake! Come quick, Gilda's back and she's causin' a ruckus over her last visit; we need ta stop her before she hurts somepony!" Applejack exclaimed from the open door.

Twilight groaned and rubbed her temple with a hoof. "Alright, let's get this taken care of."

"Who's Gilda?" I asked as we headed out the door. "I assume you've dealt with her before."

Twilight looked over to me and nodded. "We have; she's a pushy, arrogant, and hot-headed griffon that used to be friends with Rainbow Dash. She came for a visit awhile back and threw a tantrum then ran out of town after she ended up accidentally setting off all the pranks Rainbow set up at the party Pinkie threw for her."

"Sounds like a real charmer." I said sarcastically. Our conversation was cut short when we reached town square.

In the middle of the square was Gilda; who was crouched down in a predatory fighting stance. She looked like the griffons typically depicted on Earth, with the hind legs and body of a lion, and eagle-like front talons and head. Her plumage resembled a bald eagle's. She had long head-feathers that had the tips dyed purple, and stuck out in a somewhat stereotypical punk-rocker look, and she seemed to have some sort of purple eye-shadow around her eyes in what looked like a cartoonish fireball pattern. She only seemed to be a few centimeters taller than an average pony

"Where's Rainbow Dash!?" She shouted "I'm gonna get her away from you dweeby ponies before you make her any lamer!"

Twilight walked through the circle of ponies and up to Gilda. "You're not taking Rainbow Dash _anywhere_!" she said in an authoritative voice. "She made her decision the last time you were here and we- Aah!" Twilight yelped and jumped back as Gilda swiped at her with one of her eagle talons.

"Bring me Rainbow Dash NOW!" She shouted as she made the swipe.

Seeing Twilight in danger caused my fight-or-flight instinct to kick in again, and I made my way through the circle and past Twilight to face Gilda. She gave me a quizzical look that somehow she made seem aggressive as well. "Just _what_ are _you_ supposed to be?" she asked angrily.

I looked down at her with a cocked eyebrow. "My name is Blake, and I'm a human; a race that doesn't take kindly to our friends and loved ones being threatened. If you know what's good for you, you'll leave Ponyville." I heard a muffled clopping that told me that Twilight was backing up away from us. "This town is under _my_ watch now, and I'll be damned if some little _chick_ like you thinks she can just waltz in and cause trouble!"

My little ruse apparently worked, because let out a furious shriek that was half lion-roar, half eagle-screech and launched herself at me. Remembering my first encounter with Rainbow Dash, I was prepared and stepped to the side and grabbed her tail as she flew past, halting her forward motion and causing her to fall to the ground with a shriek of surprise. She shot up from the ground and lunged at me again, and again I side-stepped, this time pushing her side, causing her to go off course and tumble to the ground.

She got up again, and charged without leaping and made to bite me. I stuck my leg out and tripped up her forelegs, causing her to shoot forward as I grabbed her by the midsection and flipped her over so she landed hard on her back. She growled as she stood, more slowly this time. "You're gonna pay for that, _ape_!" she spat.

Gilda shot up into the air and dove at me with her talons outstretched. I ducked under her at the last second and grabbed her wrists, pulling back and down, causing her forward momentum to shift downward and slamming her into the ground hard. She let out a loud grunt and made her way back to her feet, much of her initial fight seeming to have left her. She shot me a venomous look before lunging at me yet again; this time however, she opened her wings at the last moment and shot upward. I was distracted enough by the change in tactics that I almost didn't notice her hind legs shooting out to rake me in time to dodge.

She turned in mid-air and made another diving pass for me, screeching and once again extending her talons. I dodged past them and managed to grab her beak, giving it a sharp downwards pull, causing Gilda's body to follow. She gave out a startled half-shriek half-yelp as she was suddenly forced into a shallow nose-dive, plowing into the ground face-first.

Gilda stood again woozily before spreading her wings. "This isn't over DWEEBS!" She yelled as she took flight and left Ponyville, wobbling slightly in the air.

Twilight walked up to my side."Did it really need to come to violence?" She asked, sounding somewhat sad.

I sighed. "Unfortunately, I believe it did. Griffons are portrayed as being highly aggressive predators on Earth, and creatures like that only respond with any finality to shows of strength. We might have been able to talk her into leaving, but she would've likely come back again. Hopefully now that she knows there's a creature superior to her in fighting ability here, her more base instincts will tell her to steer clear of Ponyville."

Twilight nodded. "You're right… Unfortunately, I doubt she could have been reasoned with." She looked up at me with a smile. "Luckily, you managed to scare her off without seriously hurting her… or getting hurt yourself."

I was about to respond when we heard a voice from above us. "Aww man! I always miss all the action!" A certain rainbow-maned Pegasus exclaimed as she landed in front of us. "I heard Gilda was in town, and she was lookin' for me; but before I could get here to tell her off, I see her flyin' off with her tail between her legs." She looked up at me. "Looks like you were the one to send her packin too."

Just then, Rarity walked up. "Oh Darling, your shirt is ruined!" She exclaimed dramatically. "This simply will not due for a visit to Canterlot! Fortunately, I believe I have a solution if you would be so kind as to return to my boutique with me." She began trotting down the road towards her shop as I looked down to see that Gilda had gotten too close for comfort with some of her swipes.

My shirt had several tears and small cuts in it, though fortunately, _I_ didn't this time. After short trip to Rarity's, I was set to go to Canterlot with a new navy blue button up and a new pair of jeans. The trip took somewhat longer than we had hoped as Rarity needed to get measurements for my lower body and make the jeans on the spot. Fortunately, this didn't put us behind schedule, and we managed to make it to the train station as the train was pulling in.

In the commotion with Gilda, I had forgotten to bring something to do on the trip. Fortunately, Twilight offered to teach me more about Equestrian speech and customs to pass the time. The trip went fairly quickly, and before long we were in the Equestrian capitol, Canterlot.

I couldn't help but marvel at all the structures around the city; they all looked to have been made by artisans. Each building was unique and had graceful curves and tasteful embellishments incorporated into their design. The ponies who resided here, however, were… snobby… many had their noses pointed straight up into the air with their eyes closed as they walked; and those that didn't would openly stare at us with a look that seemed to be a mix of disgust and curiosity. I seemed to draw much of their attention, however; as I was something nopony had seen before, an oddity.

We made our way up the steps of the palace, to see two Pegasus guards identical to the one that had delivered the princesses gifts. As we approached the gate, they each extended a wing to block our path. "Halt! State your business with the palace!" the one on the right demanded.

Twilight Stepped forward. "My name is Twilight Sparkle, and the princesses are expecting us."

The guards lowered their wings and turned to open the doors. "Very well Miss Sparkle, we were told to expect you and your friends. You may enter."

The interior of the palace blew all the other buildings away; it was highly decorated and artfully crafted, without being gaudy or pretentious. Twilight led the way, and we were soon at a set of huge double-doors with another set of Pegasus guards to either side. They stared stoically ahead as we passed through the doors that Twilight had opened with her magic. The doors led to what I assumed to be the throne room, since it had a pair of _thrones_ at the other end. The princesses of the sun and moon were seated in these thrones, which were atop a small Dias, as we approached them. We all bowed down once we reached the foot of the small set of stairs leading up to the throne.

"Please rise, we have much to discuss." Princess Celestia stated calmly.

We did as the princess asked to find that they were both now standing. "Twilight, I believe you wished to know more about the spell that brought Blake here, did you not?" The solar princess inquired. Twilight nodded. "Very well; but first, with his permission, I believe it would be best for you all to know more about how Blake came to be here."

I took a step forward. "You have my permission, princess; I already told Twilight about it, it's only fair that the others know too…" She nodded and turned around.

"Very well, follow Luna and I please." Celestia stated as she began walking towards the back of the throne room. She walked up to the wall and her horn glowed, forming a rectangular outline on the wall.

The outlined section sunk in a few inches then swung inwards, revealing a narrow hallway. The princesses led us down the hallway, which quickly opened into a large dome-shaped chamber. The walls of the chamber were bare except for outcroppings of sapphire colored crystals that were arranged in a complex, spiraling pattern leading up the wall. The princesses turned to face us. "Welcome to the Antechamber. This room is constructed to amplify scrying and certain other magics; it is the room we used to amplify our own magic enough to bring Blake here, and it is here that you will see how Blake came to us."

Both princesses horns began to glow, and I could see that we were all being surrounded by their combined auras. I felt a large pressure wave coming from them as they began casting their spell. There was a blinding flash of white light, and when I could see again, I could tell we were in a familiar place; the movie theater parking lot. Except something was different this time, I looked to my left to see that even the princesses were with us before I heard laughter and talking. I looked in the direction it was coming from to see myself and my wife walking through the lot. Suddenly a man darted out from behind a parked car we had passed and came up behind us. I closed my eyes and let the scene play out to it's conclusion, not wanting to relive that moment again. I managed to block most of it out; however, I could not block the last thought echoing through my mind.

There was another flash of light and when I opened them again, I saw my six friends were sobbing; even the princesses had tears in their eyes, though they did a better job of restraining them.

"H-how _awful_…" Rarity finally managed to choke out.

Princess Luna then walked up to me. "There is more to the story I fear; using this room, we managed to scry your loved ones that you might know how they fared. It would seem that when the Veil of Magic healed itself, it altered your world… the history of Earth was rewritten… without you included." Luna somberly stated.

I took a deep breath at this news. Part of my heart ached at the news, but mostly I was glad that I had gotten my wish; they couldn't mourn me if I never existed in the first place. "It's alright Luna; it _is_ what I wanted after all, they can't mourn me if I don't exist..."

With that, we made our way back to the throne room, a somber procession of friends who had no words for what they had seen. Once we were back in the throne room, the door sealed itself behind us. The princesses once again turned to me. "There is another matter which we must speak of Blake. Twilight sent me a letter stating that earlier today you routed a rouge griffon and stopped her from harming Ponyville's inhabitants. We would like to thank you for your latest selfless act; if there's anything you desire, name it, and if it's within reason, we shall grant it."

I stood for a moment in thought. "I can't think of anything I really _need_, however, my grandfather taught me swordplay when I was younger. I would like a practice sword so I can continue his teachings and keep a small part of my world alive here."

Both princesses glanced at each other briefly and smiled at me. "That is an honorable request; and one that is easily granted. We shall escort you to the royal armory before you leave, and you may choose whichever blade you desire." Luna said.

The next few hours or so were spent with the princesses explaining to Twilight and the others how the spell that brought me here worked, as well as answering the questions they had about what happened. They all seemed to be cheering up by this point. When the others finally ran out of questions, the princesses horns began to glow. I looked over to a window to see that the sun was beginning to set beyond the horizon.

When their horns stopped glowing, the princesses beckoned us to follow them. They led us through a veritable labyrinth of hallways and into a large room that was filled with weapon and armor racks. "Here is the armory; you may choose any blade that is to your liking." Luna said from my side.

I wandered into the room and began inspecting the various swords in the room. Many were either too large or too small for my tastes, with some being the right size but with terrible balance. Finally, after what felt like hours, I was ready to give up; it was then that I noticed a hilt sticking up from between two blades I had inspected earlier, though I didn't remember seeing it. I walked over to the blade and lifted it from the rack before removing it from it's sheath. The blade was plain and unadorned; I held it in a relaxed grip, finding the length to be perfect. I then gave the new blade a few practice swings, finding it to be nearly perfectly balanced; it was as if this blade had been made for me…

"Is that the blade you desire?" I heard Celestia ask from behind me.

I turned around as I gingerly ran my thumb along the blade to test its edge, finding it to be razor-sharp. "Yes princess, this one will do quite nicely." I said with a small smile, still admiring the simple, yet functional blade.

She smiled back. "Then it's yours; treat it well."

With that, the princesses led us to our next destination, wherever that might have been.


	11. Royal Treatment

**Reviewers - To save myself sounding redundant or repetitive, I'd like to thank KillerWow, Hybrid Battleship Infinity210, and GhostChris for their reviews. I always appreciate feedback, and I love hearing that you're enjoying the story so far. I know it's goin' kinda slow right now, but the 'adventure' portion of this adventure/romance will be picking up fairly soon, so stay tuned for that.**

**A/N - Hello again everypony an welcome to the latest installment of A Second Chance. Well, the readers have spoken and at six to two, double-update wins! ****Unfortunately, it may take me some time to upload the bonus update, as my computer crashed right after I uploaded this chapter to the Doc Manager and refuses to restart; I am currently editing this chapter with the Author's Note and shout-out to the reviewers from my phone and have no access to the other chapters that I have typed. I'd like to apologize to my readers for this inconvenience, but unfortunately there is little I can do about it at the moment. **

We followed the princesses down the halls of the castle to our next destination. "Since it's so late, we would like for you all to remain here for the night and return to your homes in the morning." Celestia said while turning her head around to address us. However, before we show you to your rooms, we'd like to invite you to dine with us for the evening if you're feeling up to it."

There was a quiet chorus of agreements from the others, and I agreed as well; it had been several hours since I had last eaten, and I was getting fairly hungry. We were led down another hall shortly after that ended in a pair of fairly large wooden double-doors. The doors opened to reveal a medium-sized dining hall; it was sparsely decorated and seemed to be made for entertaining personal guests. The table in the middle of the room looked to seat twelve, having five chairs on either side and one bigger, more ornate chair at each end.

We quickly chose a seat and stood by it; I chose the center seat on one side, with Twilight taking the seat on my left and Applejack taking the one on my right. Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Rainbow Dash took the seats directly across from me and Fluttershy sat to the far right on my side of the table. Celestia took the end chair to my left with Luna taking the other end chair. Once the princesses were seated, we all followed suit. Celestia took a small bell that I hadn't noticed and rung it daintily with her magic, causing a soft, smooth chime to issue from the bell.

Moments later, servants began bringing trays covered with silver dome lids into the small dining hall and setting them on the table before removing the lids to reveal a plethora of different foods, from simple salads to dishes containing various flowers and vegetables; some of which I couldn't name, but smelled delicious all the same. "Please, help yourselves; this a casual dinner, there is no need to stand on ceremony here." Celestia said warmly.

With that, I began placing various dishes onto the plate that had been set before me. It wasn't long until I noticed that the others were only looking at the food, not making a move to take any for themselves. "What's the matter, aren't any of you hungry? After a long day like today, I figured you'd all be starving."

Twilight spoke first. "Was… was what we saw today _real_, Blake? Is that really what you told me about before?"

I sighed and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Yes Twilight, that's what really happened. I don't like it either, but being depressed and starving ourselves won't make it go away."

She sighed, "You're right, it's just hard to believe that something like that could really happen." This seemed to sink in with the others too, and they all began taking food for themselves.

After a few minutes, whether it be the wonderful flavor of the food or something else, they all started to cheer up again; and soon after, with a little help from the princesses, the dining hall was filled with the sounds of pleasant dinner conversation. I was still amazed to find that there were plants that tasted like various meats to ponies. I found the flavors of steak, chicken, turkey, pork and even venison among the various plants being served by our royal hosts.

"Alright, I believe it's time to show everypony to their rooms for the night." Celestia stated when it looked like everyone was done eating. She and Luna then proceeded to show us out of the dining hall and down another corridor.

We turned into another hallway; this one seemed to have several doors lining either side of it. "Alright, here we are. You may choose whichever rooms you wish, they are all the same." Celestia said with a smile before she bid us goodnight.

Luna hesitated for a moment. "Goodnight Blake; I am happy to see you again, though I wish we could have spent more time together…"

I knelt down and hugged her goodnight. "It's alright Luna, I won't be leaving right away in the morning, maybe we can spend some time together before I leave."I tightened my embrace slightly. "And thank you for what you did for me… Twilight told me about how you changed the phase of the moon to give those searching for me more light. If it wasn't for you, I might not even be here right now…"

She returned my embrace. "You are most welcome Blake, we have not known each other long, but you have endeared yourself to me, and I would hate to see tragedy befall you." She then broke the embrace and looked me in the eye with a smile and a slight blush. "Sleep well Blake Marshall, I look forward to seeing you in the morning." She said as she gave me another innocent smile, then turned to leave.

After she left, I looked around briefly before I picked one of the rooms on the left towards the center, while the girls each picked whichever room suited them. I took a quick look around my room, noticing it had a bookshelf with a variety of books on it. I picked one on Equestrian history and set it on the bed to read before I went to sleep. I then made my way to the bathroom. It seemed that these rooms were meant for those who traveled light, as it had soaps and shampoos for bathing, towels, even toothpaste and a prepackaged toothbrush.

All in all it felt much like a hotel room bathroom, though nowhere near as cramped; the bathroom itself was actually quite spacious, and even had a shower stall with a sliding glass door instead of a curtain. I unwrapped the toothbrush and proceeded to ready myself for bed, absent-mindedly opening a drawer looking for bed clothes, finding that the dresser was unsurprisingly devoid of clothing.

I laid down on the bed in just my boxer-briefs and picked up the book I had laid out before. After flipping through it for what felt like an hour, I came across a section about a being known as Nightmare Moon. The section detailed how Princess Luna became jealous of her sister and angry at their subjects for what she saw as shunning the night she worked so hard to create. This jealousy and anger overpowered her and manifested in a physical form known as Nightmare Moon. It said that Celestia was forced to use the power of a set of ancient artifacts known as the Elements of Harmony to banish this being, and her sister with it, to the moon for a thousand years.

It went on to detail how six friends, naming them as: Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy and Applejack, rediscovered the Elements and used them to free Luna from Nightmare Moon when she returned to the world. It said that the six were now the wielders of these artifacts, known as the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, and could call upon their power in times of need to defend Equestria from threats.

Once I finished reading this section, I decided that it was time to turn in for the night, so I turned out the lamp on the bedside table where I had set my book and made myself comfortable. I was drifting into the state of mind between sleep and awareness when I heard a quiet knock on my door. A moment later, the door opened, revealing the silhouetted head of a unicorn.

"Blake, are you awake?" the unicorn, whose voice I recognized to be Twilight's, whispered.

"Yeah, I'm still up, what's up Twi?" I asked.

This prompted her to step into the room, her horn glowing briefly as she shut the door with her magic, plunging the room back into darkness. I felt that same strange pressure again. "I couldn't sleep, I kept thinking about what the princesses showed us today…" She trailed off. "Could I maybe… sleep in here tonight? I… I just don't want to be alone tonight, and I'd feel safe being close to you…"

She couldn't see it, but a gentle smile played across my face. "Sure Twi, I don't have a problem with that, though we'll have to share the bed, I doubt any of this furniture would be very comfortable to sleep on."

I couldn't see her smile, but I could practically feel the relief coming from her.

She didn't waste any time in making her way over to the bed and hopping up into it, shuffling under the covers and making herself comfortable. She ended up rolling onto her side facing me. "Blake?" she asked, waiting for a response before continuing. "How do you do it? How do you act so happy when so much tragedy has befallen you?"

I turned my head to face her; I could just make out the glint of her eyes in the faint moonlight. "It's not easy Twi, but there's a saying that my granddad taught me: yesterday is history; tomorrow is a mystery; but today, today is a gift, that's why it's called the 'present'."

Twilight sighed next to me. "He sounds wise."

I nodded. "He was, the things he taught me are what's helping me through this; that you can't move forward, towards the future if you're constantly looking back at the past; you shouldn't forget it, but you can't focus on it either. He also taught me that when the foundations of your world have turned to sand, your true friends will always be there, like a bedding of rock to keep it from crashing down around you." I took a deep breath before I continued. "You all don't know how much your friendship means to me Twi… I don't know what I would have done if you all weren't here to support me; it's even more amazing that you're willing to do that for someone you barely know, most humans wouldn't have done that…"

"Ponies aren't like that; we wouldn't let somepony suffer if we could help. Besides, we may not have known you long, but we're still your friends."

I nodded sleepily. "You've all been great friends too, I'm glad the princesses brought me here, even with all that's happened."

Twilight sighed, also sounding sleepy. "Me too Blake, I bet all kinds of new things are going to start happening too." She ended her sentence with a yawn.

I chuckled before I yawned as well. "Sounds like this pair of friends should make friends with some friendly counting sheep."

Twilight giggled. "OK, goodnight you goofball."

"Goodnight Twilight." I said, and we both drifted off to peaceful sleep.

* * *

I came back to the world of the waking the next morning to see that the sun had risen and was somewhere over the horizon, judging by the amount of light filtering through the curtains over the rooms only window. I also noticed a strange, yet somewhat familiar, pressure across my chest. I looked down to see that Twilight was still sleeping peacefully, though she had her left foreleg draped across my abdomen and her head was resting on my chest; the rest of her body was snuggled against my side cutely. The way she was cuddled against me reminded me of many a peaceful morning waking up with my wife back on Earth. I quickly pushed the bittersweet memories from my mind, focusing instead on the purple mare embracing me in her sleep. I decided not to wake her just yet, instead wrapping my arm gingerly around her and returning the embrace while using my right hand to ever-so-lightly caress her silky, soft mane.

We laid there like that for what must have been an hour before Twilight finally started stirring, slowly awakening. Her violet eyes slowly opened and she looked up at me before giving me a sleepy smile. Her eyes then snapped open and she quickly moved away from me, blushing fiercely and stuttering out an apology. "Ohmygosh, I-I'm so s-sorry Blake; please don't be mad!" she seemed to be avoiding eye contact with me.

I reached over and cupped her cheek with my hand and moved her head so she was looking me in the eye. I gave her a reassuring smile. "It's ok Twi, I've been up for some time, if I wasn't ok with that, I would have said so sooner. Besides, it actually felt kinda nice to have someone sleeping next to me like that."

This caused a smile to creep its way across her face. "You mean you're really ok with me snuggling up to you like that?"

I nodded. "Of course, why wouldn't I be?"

Her smile brightened. "Thanks Blake, that means a lot."

I smiled back and began getting out of bed. "You're very welcome Twi; now, what say we get ourselves ready and get some breakfast?"

She hopped out of bed after me as her stomach growled, causing me to chuckle. "That sounds like a 'yes' to me." Twilight just nodded with a blush.

We made our way out into the long corridor, and together, managed to find our way back to the dining hall from the night before. It turned out that Twilight had been here before, but it had been so long that the route was fuzzy in her memory. When we opened the doors, we found both princesses already seated in the same places as the previous night, seemingly waiting for their morning meal to arrive. It only took them a moment to notice us after we entered, and they turned to regard us warmly. "Good morning Blake, good morning Twilight; I trust you slept well?" Celestia inquired.

Twilight and I smiled and nodded. "We did Princess, thank you for accommodating us for the night."

Celestia smiled at this, "It was no trouble my faithful student. Now, would the two of you be interested in joining us? I assume that's why you came to the dining hall."

I nodded again. "It is indeed Celestia; I think I can safely say that we'd be delighted to join you." Twilight and I took our seats, with her sitting on my left, closer to her mentor, and me choosing to sit nearer to Luna, who seemed thrilled by this.

The four of us made idle chitchat until the serving ponies brought out a few covered dishes. There were significantly fewer than the last time, but it still seemed too much for just the two of them; I could only guess that they were expecting us to join them this morning. The meal seemed fairly simple, English muffins with jam, pancakes with syrup, hashbrowns, eggs over-easy, and oatmeal with fruit on the side. I decided on an egg sandwich and a small bowl of oatmeal with some of the hashbrowns. The servers then returned with glasses of orange juice for everyone save Celestia, who took tea with her meal instead.

As we ate, Luna turned to me. "Blake, would you like to go out into the city with me today? I would very much like to give you a tour of Canterlot while the opportunity presents itself."

"Sure Luna, I'd like that, it'll give us an opportunity to spend time together as well." I then looked over to Twilight. "Would you mind explaining to our other friends what's going on?"

Twilight nodded with a smile. "Sure Blake, we all need to be heading back to Ponyville soon anyway, everypony has jobs they need to get back to." She had just finished her meal and hopped down from her chair. "In fact, I should probably get them all together so we can all get ready to leave."

Celestia then spoke up. "I shall accompany you Twilight; I wish to see you and your friends off after their visit." And with that, she and Twilight said their goodbyes and left through the same doors we had come through before, leaving Luna and I alone in the dining room.

I stood and with an exaggerated bow, I offered my hand to the lunar princess. "Shall we M'Lady?"

She placed a hoof on my offered hand and stood with a giggle. "We shall good sir." She said with a smirk.

Luna led me out of the castle and onto the main streets of Canterlot, showing me many of the different sites, such as: Joe's Donut Shop, according to her one of the best places in Equestria to get good donuts, the art gallery, the opera house, a racetrack where a team of apparently elite Pegasai called the Wonderbolts hold derbies, and the Canterlot Gardens, where exclusive garden parties are often held by Canterlot's elite. I rolled my eyes at that last one, having no interest in that sort of affair; Luna seemed to agree.

Luna stopped and turned to me while we were walking through the gardens, back towards the castle, as she wanted to show me more of its grounds, like the hedge maze. "Blake, I have a… request… you may feel free to say no, as it is only a request." She took a deep breath, which made me somewhat nervous. "I have heard of your martial prowess from the letters Twilight Sparkle has sent my sister, as well as from Twilight herself; I would like to see what you are capable of for myself, if you are willing to indulge me."

I raised an eyebrow. "I'm not entirely sure what you're asking Luna, do you want me to strike a few poses or something?"

She rubbed a foreleg with the opposite hoof nervously. "Actually, I was hoping you would be willing to demonstrate your skills in a… fight…" She practically whispered the word. _I was afraid of that._

I stood there for a moment, contemplating. "What did you have in mind?"

She seemed to brighten up at that. "Nothing dangerous, I assure you, a simple hoof-to-hoof… or hand, in this case… sparring match between you and one of my Lunar Guard, so that I may observe how a human fights compared to a pony."

I considered her request for a moment. "Well, as long as it's unarmed and it's to the yield, I don't really see a problem with it, though considering how little training I have compared to one of your guards, don't be too surprised when I get trounced."

Luna grinned widely at this. "Wonderful! Follow me to the castle training grounds and I'll introduce you to your sparring partner." She exclaimed happily before leading me back towards the castle, a noticeable bounce in her step. _She sure is excited to see me get whooped_.

A short time later, we arrived at the training grounds, which looked much like I expected, with battered training dummies, sparring arenas of varying sizes, and weapon and armor racks here and there. Luna turned to me again when we arrived. "Please wait here Blake, and I'll fetch your sparring partner." She said before trotting off.

A few moments later, she returned with a strange looking unicorn mare walking beside her; she was obviously a mare, what struck me as odd were her eyes and ears. Her eyes were a pale yellow with slitted pupils, much like a cat's, and her ears had a bat-like look to them, with tufts of fur at the ends. She wore pale bluish-gray hoofcaps very similar to Luna's, and she had an ornate breastplate with sweeping sides and a jewel or crystal of some sort that appeared to be a blue slitted eye set at its center. She wasn't wearing a helmet, and I could see that her mane was fairly short, much like Rainbow Dash's and was the same bluish-gray as her hoofcaps. Her coat was a solid smoky gray and complimented the rest of her look well.

When they stopped in front of me, the new pony turned to Luna. "This the new meat you mentioned?" she asked in a condescending manner.

Luna seemed to ignore this and nodded. "Yes, this is Blake Marshall, and I would like to see how well he can fight. Blake, this is my guard captain, Midnight Flash; she will be your opponent." I eyed her appraisingly. "Don't worry, Midnight is aware of your lack of magical abilities, and has been instructed to refrain from using any of her own abilities."

Midnight Flash gestured with her head towards an empty arena. "C'mon Meat, the sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can get back to drilling my recruits."

We made our way to the indicated arena, which seemed to be about five meters in diameter, and took our places on opposite sides of the start area in the center. Midnight removed her armor and hoofcaps and did a few quick loosening exercises before taking her ready stance. "Ready to go down hard, Meat?" She jeered.

My only reply was to fall into my own ready stance, waiting for the starting signal. Luna stepped up to the edge of the circle. "Remember, this is to be a test of abilities, not an attempt to inflict undue harm." She raised her right hoof into the air. "Aaannd… BEGIN!" she exclaimed as she brought her hoof down, signaling the start of the match.

Midnight and I simply stood there for a moment, each waiting for the other to make the first move. Eventually, we began circling the ring, never taking our eyes off one another. Midnight made the first move, charging me before feinting right then spinning around and trying to buck me. Fortunately this was an old trick and I was ready for it; I side-stepped her buck and grabbed both her hind legs, using her own momentum to help toss her across the arena where she landed with an 'oof'.

Midnight got back to her hooves with a slight growl and charged me again before stopping just short and digging the front of her hoof into the loose soil of the ring, flicking it at my face. I had enough time to shield my eyes from the blinding silt, but the distraction cost me a shoulder-check to my chest, staggering me backwards.

I recovered faster than Midnight however, and landed a solid right jab to her snout, causing her to stumble back, dazed. I pressed this temporary advantage and kicked her front legs out from under while simultaneously grabbing her horn and wrenching it to the side, causing her to flip onto her back.

The gray unicorn scrambled back to her hooves with an angry scowl. She charged at me full steam and lowered her head to ram me, which would likely end with me impaled on her horn. I side-stepped the charge and landed another blow to the side of her jaw as she flew past. Her scowl deepened as she turned to face me, only to see that at that time I was already charging towards her with my fist drawn back for what I hoped was the finishing strike.

Before I could strike her however, her horn glowed momentarily, causing my eyes to go wide in the instant before I was struck in the chest with a bolt of magic that felt like a cannonball; sending me flying back for what had to have been three meters or more. I had enough clarity about me to roll with my landing as I hit the ground on my back, righting myself and skidding to a stop on my feet. "THAT IS _ENOUGH_!" I heard Luna bellow in a voice louder than I thought she could produce.

Unfortunately for me, it was too late; Midnight Flash unleashed another, larger bolt from her horn at that instant. All I could do was close my eyes and throw my arms up and hope that would be enough to keep me from getting killed… again. I cracked an eye open a moment later, puzzled, when the impact never came to see a shimmering, golden force-field that had swirls of light blue flowing through it imposed between the guard captain and I.

I was even more puzzled when I looked over to Luna to see not only the shocked expression on her face, but that neither her nor Midnight's horns were glowing. The shield dissipated a moment later and a feeling of absolute fatigue washed over me, and the last thing I saw as the darkness embraced me once again was Luna rushing to my side.


	12. Heart of the Moon

**A/N - Hiya! A quick update: apparently the motherboard of my laptop bit the big one, turning the thing into a big paperweight, so for as long as it takes for me to save up for a new one, I'll be writing chapters on my phone or at the library. The crash also corrupted portions of the data on my hard drive, including chapters 15-20 that I had saved on it, meaning that I'll have to rewrite them. Now that that's out of the way, I'd like to thank Shade the Dark Latios, HYBRID BATTLESHIP INFINITY210, GhostChris, and KillerWoW for their awesome reviews; as always, it's great to hear what you guys think of my story and I'm grateful you all enjoy it. To be honest, I never expected it to be as popular as it is when I posted the first chapter.**

I came to sometime later; the first thing to come into my blurry vision was a wall of white. I could vaguely make out other blurry shapes, quickly realizing that I was staring at a white ceiling. I instantly regretted the reflexive deep breath I took, as it caused a large pain in my chest; though I quickly managed to get that under control with a shallow breathing exercise my granddad taught me. The next thing I noticed was the rhythmic beeping of an EKG machine. I was confused at first; not thinking Equestria had that kind of technology. My confusion suddenly gave way to a mixed feeling; hope, laced with a twinge of regret as a thought came to me: _what if this isn't Equestria? What if all that was really just a dream? _If this was really true, I was certainly glad that it was, although I couldn't help but admit to myself that I had started to like what I had perceived to be my new life.

I was broken from my thoughts when the door to my hospital room slowly and quietly opened, causing me to realize that my vision had returned to normal and bringing my attention back to the sharp ache in my chest. I focused my attention on the door, wondering who could be on the other side; it wasn't until I noticed it opening that I also noticed that I had been the only one in the room. A familiar midnight blue head poked through the door a moment later. I was both relieved and a little disappointed to see my royal friend, as she represented not only a welcome bond of friendship, but the realization that I wouldn't be seeing my loved ones from Earth.

Her cobalt eyes sparkled when they met mine and the realization that I was awake struck her. "Blake?! Oh thank the moon! You have awoken, this is wonderful!" she exclaimed as she hurried to my bedside.

I groaned slightly as she wrapped me in a gentle hug, which she thankfully quickly released. "Hi Luna." I said with a smile. "What happened, it feels like I got hit by a train."

The lunar princess's face turned serious. "My guard captain went against my orders and used offensive magic against you during your sparring session. I had intended to discipline her myself, but I wished to know what _you_ thought to be an appropriate punishment, as you are the one who was injured."

I shook my head. "I don't think she should be disciplined for that." Luna's jaw dropped when she heard that. "It may have been a mock-up, but it was still combat, and those in a combat situation tend to react to threats before they've had a chance to consciously register said threat. This is especially true if the combatant perceives themselves to be in imminent danger, such as captain Midnight likely did when I charged her. Honestly, if our situations had been reversed, I don't see myself acting differently."

Luna's eyes widened, but before she could speak, we both heard a feminine giggle coming from the door. As we both turned our attention to it, none other than the princess of the sun herself walked through; that warm, motherly smile beaming and lighting up her entire demeanor. "It seems you never cease to amaze Blake." She said warmly. "Not only do you believe that one who has wronged you should not be punished, having a logical explanation to your beliefs as well, but during that sparring match, you showed a talent I thought long gone from your race."

"I don't really know what to say…" I said, somewhat confused; I honestly didn't know how to respond to that kind of praise. "Though speaking of the match; just who was it that saved my hide with that barrier?"

Celestia's smile widened. "Why, _you_ did Blake. Luna told me of what happened, and I must admit I am surprised to see that the bloodline you carry still exists amongst humans." My face screwed up in confusion. _Bloodline? What is she talking about?_ Celestia noticed this and cleared her throat. "Perhaps I should explain; among the humans who once lived on Mythis, there were three primary groups, defined by blood: those who could not use magic, referred to as Blanks, those who could use relatively weak magic with much training and discipline, called the Magi, and those who could use powerful magic, seemingly on a whim, called the Ancients. You are of the last of these three bloodlines, otherwise you could not have cast that spell; Blanks cannot use magic to begin with, and Magi cannot cast magic that powerful at all, let alone spontaneously, as you did. It is said that the power of this bloodline can rival even that of an Alicorn, given time, training, and the purity of the individual's blood; and given how powerful my sister claims your shield to have been, your blood must be _very_ pure, something I wouldn't have thought possible at all, let alone by random chance."

I blinked several times at this revelation, not quite sure what to think. "So let me get this straight: not only can I use _magic_, not only is the ability to _use_ said magic all but _impossible_, but it can potentially rival _your_ ability; you, whom as I understand, are two of _the most powerful beings _on the_ planet_?!"

Celestia nodded, "Your understanding, while somewhat crude, is more-or-less correct."

I was speechless for nearly a minute. I finally found my voice and spoke up. "Wh-where do we go from here? I…" I took another moment to compose my thoughts. "Humans have always dreamed of such things, from fanciful daydreams of casting simple spells to a downright lust for unrivalled power… I… I honestly don't know if I want this; I mean, what if I were to accidentally hurt someone, or worse, become corrupted somehow and do it intentionally?"

Celestia and Luna smiled at one another. "Your concerns and desire not to harm others with this gift show us that you are likely the most deserving of it. With proper training, this power will be no more dangerous to those around you than the fighting ability you possess; now that it has awakened within you, the magic will answer your call, you must simply learn_ how_ to call it. And I believe I know just the unicorn to guide you through this time of discovery." Luna said with a pride-filled smile and tone.

Celestia then looked back to the doorway. "I must take my leave now, I have royal duties to attend; I just wanted to make sure you weren't hurt too badly." She then turned to leave before looking back to me. "Farewell for now Blake, I hope you get better soon." She bid before she walked through the door, closing it behind her.

I looked over to Luna. "So how long was I out? It doesn't feel like it's been that long."

Luna shook her head. "It has not. You were unconscious for only a few hours, more from the shock of suddenly using that much magic than from your injuries."

I looked down at my chest to see that it was bandaged. "I see. How bad was I hurt anyway? It hurt pretty bad when I came to, but it doesn't seem to anymore."

"You were lucky; Midnight Flash did not have time to properly charge the first spell, so it was not as powerful as it could have been. You only received minor injuries from the impact; mostly bruising, as well as two fractured ribs, so you are significantly better off than you could have been. As for the pain, the physician cast a delayed pain-blocking spell on you, set to activate once you awoke. It is standard procedure in case a patient awakens while there are no doctors around to ease that patients suffering. This spell also has low-level healing attributes, which even now are hard at work mending the worst of the damage."

I nodded at the information. "Well that's good to hear, I was afraid I was pretty bad off. So I take it I won't have to stay here for much longer?"

Before Luna could answer, there was a knock at the door; there was a momentary pause before an earth pony mare in an old-fashioned nurse's outfit with a pale tan coat and two-tone pale blue mane done up in a bun and aqua eyeshadow surrounding green eyes opened the door and entered the room. "Good afternoon your Majesty." She said warmly with a small bow to Luna before picking up the clipboard hanging from the end of my bed. "Good afternoon Mr. Marshall, I'm nurse Snowheart, how are you feeling?" She asked cheerily. _I wish doctors and nurses on Earth had been this pleasant._

"Well, I seem to be much better than I was when I got here; I mean, I'm awake after all."

She giggled slightly. "That you are. It seems you were quite lucky; if you had landed on your neck, you might not have woken up at all. That aside, your injuries were relatively minor; you should be able to go home as soon as the doctor comes by and clears you." She took a quill in the wrist joint of her hoof and made a few notes on my chart before heading towards the door. "I'll go fetch him now, and he should be by shortly." Nurse Snowheart said before leaving the room again.

I turned my attention back to Luna. "So, do Twilight and the others know what happened?"

She hesitated a moment. "Your other friends are aware; my sister sent a letter to Twilight Sparkle via Spike as soon as she found out. However, it would seem Twilight did not board the train with her friends. We have a few guards searching the city in case she is still here, but the chances of finding her will be low until she attempts to board the next train to Ponyville."

I shrugged. "I wouldn't worry too much about it, she'll find out one way or another. I'm getting pretty hungry though, after I get released, I'm going to find someplace in the city to eat before I head back; I'd like it if you joined me Luna." I said with a warm smile.

Luna's face lit up in a blush. "I… I would enjoy that Blake; I believe I know just the place too." She said with a smile of her own.

Before either of us could say anything else, there was another knock on the door, followed by a unicorn stallion with a deep brown coat and auburn mane wearing a doctor's lab coat walking in. "Ah, greetings Princess Luna, Mr. Marshall. Nurse Snowheart informed me that you were awake and in good spirits. We can have you cleared and on your way once I cast a medical diagnostic spell to ensure your injuries will be alright once you leave."

I nodded my head signaling him to proceed. He wasted little time casting the spell; both his horn and my chest were enveloped in a light blue aura. The spell only lasted a moment before it faded. "It looks like everything checks out, you have a few contusions, but nothing too serious. If you'll follow me, I'll show you to outpatient processing where you'll just need to fill out a release form before you leave, and then you'll be free to go." The doctor said cheerily as he turned to leave.

I got up to follow only to realize that all I was wearing was a hospital gown that was too small to cover me properly. "Uh, Doc? I think there might be a bit of a problem with that…"

He turned back to me with a curious look. It only took him a moment to realize that my garment looked like it was ready to explode off of me. "Oh, right. The princesses informed me of your species' taboo against… exposure. I'll have nurse Snowheart bring your belongings up to you and show you out. Good day Princess, Mr. Marshall." The doctor said in a strangely flat tone compared to his previous speech.

It didn't take long for Snowheart to reappear with my clothes on her back. Fortunately, they didn't appear any worse for wear. She and Luna then both departed to allow me some privacy while I changed. It only took a few minutes, and once I was done I opened the door to see Snowheart and Luna standing across the white marble hall in relative silence. They both seemed to perk up at my arrival; I could only guess at the awkward silence I had broken. "Ah, Mr. Marshall, shall we?" Snowheart asked, a little too enthusiastically.

I gestured for her to lead the way. "You can call me Blake, you know. I won't bite, I promise."

Snowheart and Luna both giggled at that. "Alright Blake, right this way please." She said with a smile, gesturing to a door to our left.

Luna and I passed through the door with Snowheart staying behind, waving us farewell. The paperwork was fairly routine hospital release fare, verifying I felt I was well enough to leave and the like. After it was all done, Luna and I made our way out of the hospital, with her leading us through the main thoroughfare of Canterlot, the both of us receiving more than a few open stares. Most of these seemed to be more out of curiosity than anything else. We both managed to shrug off the stares and managed some pleasant conversation while we walked.

"So Blake, how do you like Equestria thus far?" Luna asked after a short lull in the conversation.

I looked up at the sky, thinking about what I had seen and done so far. "Honestly, I still find it hard to believe that it's not all a dream… when I woke up earlier at the hospital, I had thought it was and I had woken up in a hospital on Earth. I still think about what I lost… but thanks to you and your sister, I've also gained so much. I've only been here a few days, but it almost feels like this is where I was meant to be; like I was born in the wrong place and I never realized it till I came here. I'll likely always miss Earth and the life I had there, but this life feels… right…"

Luna gave me a soft, sad smile at that. "I am glad to hear you say that Blake. While I dearly wish I could return what has been taken from you, I cannot; I can only do my best to ensure your new life is as fulfilling as it can be." She then turned her attention ahead of us. "Ah, we have arrived!" She exclaimed happily.

I looked at the establishment in front of us. It seemed to stick out amongst the ornate buildings that surrounded it, seeming to resemble an ancient Roman structure, carved from white granite and sparsely decorated. Compared to the ostentatious buildings around it, carved from marble and other high class materials and often adorned with gold and various other precious metals, this place seemed… plain. _Just the way I like it._ As we neared the entry door, a familiar aroma wafted into my nostrils. _No… it couldn't be… could it?_

Luna seemed to pick up on my delight, as she giggled slightly before saying; "Your senses do not deceive you Blake; that is indeed cooked fish you smell." I turned my attention to her with a confused look. "While most ponies choose to eat only vegetable matter, we are quite capable of ingesting fish as well. Though there are few, some ponies do enjoy indulging in recreational pescatarianism, myself included. This restaurant is one of few in Canterlot that caters to such tastes. Shall we?" she asked, gesturing us onward with a hoof.

I wasted no time in snapping from the daze the heavenly aroma had put me in and quickly opened the door, gesturing Luna to go through first. This prompted a giggle from the midnight Alicorn, "My my, such a gentlecolt." She almost purred as she passed me. "And _handsome_ too…" she said with a flirtatious wink.

I could feel my cheeks begin to warm at the unexpected compliment, but I managed to keep my composure and follow my fiend into the restaurant. We were greeted and quickly seated -likely due to Luna being a princess- by an earth pony stallion in a tasteful black vest with a white undershirt and red bow-tie. He handed us our menus and took our drink orders before returning to the kitchen. A moment later, he returned with our drinks -we had both ordered sarsaparilla- before vanishing again, giving Luna and I some privacy.

I decided that now was as good a time as any to bring up what I had read the previous night. "So Luna, I came across an interesting book last night in my room." Luna looked up from her menu with an interested look, so I continued, "It had to do with the history of Equestria, more specifically, a being called Nightmare Moon…"

Her face, as dark as it was, somehow paled at this and her pupils shrunk to near pinpricks. "Blake, y-you must understand; that was a dark time in my life, I-I was so angry and jealous and resentful of my sister and how our subjects loved her day and shunned the night that I worked so hard to craft for them. My negative emotions got the best of me and-" She stopped as I held up a hand to interject.

"It's ok Luna; you don't have to explain yourself to me. Whatever _happened_ in the past will _stay_ in the past; I'm not going to judge you for it. I just thought you should know that I'm aware of what happened, at least from history's perspective. I don't care who you were then, all I care about is who you are now; and who you are now is a kind, compassionate ruler and a caring friend whose company I enjoy." I smiled warmly at her, and she returned that smile tenfold. "I also wanted to say that if you wanted to talk about what happened sometime, whether it be to simply have someone see things from your viewpoint or if you have some lingering doubts or something you'd like to get off your chest… you can count on me to be there to listen…"

Her smile distorted somewhat and her eyes began to glisten with barely restrained tears. "Thank you… Thank you Blake… I cannot tell you how much joy it gives me to hear you say that… to know that there is someone that I can talk to, not as a subject or a sibling, but as a _friend_." A single tear escaped her restraint and danced its way down her cheek as she looked down at the table. "As a princess, I can have almost any luxury or comfort I could dream of… but _that_ always seemed to be the one thing my title could not bring me; in fact, it seemed to make having such a luxury impossible… I do not know how I can ever thank you for that…"

I got up from my seat and wrapped her in a warm embrace. "We're friends Luna; you don't ever have to thank me for that." I pulled back from the embrace and placed my hand on her cheek, wiping away the tear with my thumb and turning her head so we were eye-to-eye. "I'll _always_ be here for you Luna, whenever you nee-" I was cut off as Luna lunged forward, wrapping a foreleg around my head and planting her lips on mine in a deep, passionate kiss.

The kiss ended just as abruptly as it began as she pulled away suddenly, a look of shock and embarrassment on her face. "I-I am sorry, I do not… I need to go!" She exclaimed an instant before her horn glowed and she disappeared in a flash of light, leaving me momentarily stunned as I processed what had just happened.

That only lasted a split-second, however, and I quickly came to me senses. "LUNA! WAIT!" I shouted in vain. I got up and turned to leave to try and find her until I remembered our meal. I stopped only long enough to fish out what I thought to be a sack of thirty bits and tossed it on the table; hoping it was enough, though we had yet to order, before taking to the streets of Canterlot in search of my friend. I hadn't noticed, nor did I particularly care, that every pony in the establishment, patrons and staff alike had stopped what they were doing and were now staring at me.

Unfortunately, I had no idea where she might have gone, nor did I have any idea where _I_ was going; I simply took off in the direction that I hoped would lead back to the palace, as the narrow streets and tall buildings in this part of the city made viewing the immense structure all but impossible. After around what I guessed was five minutes of running, my surroundings finally opened up enough for me to spot the palace, and I took off towards it without hesitation.

By the time I reached the palace's main entrance, I was thoroughly winded, doubling over to catch my breath before announcing myself to the guard. Thankfully, they had been told who I was and that I was to be granted access to the palace, so getting in was easy. Once inside, I realized that the hard part would be finding Luna, if she was even here to begin with.

I decided instead to find the one being who would be able to help me find Luna, to try and understand what happened and try to make amends for anything I might have done wrong, though by this point I had a pretty good idea of what had happened. My progress was slowed however, as the running I had done had aggravated my chest injury and breathing had become more difficult. I fought through the pain and sought out my objective almost single-mindedly, once again paying no mind to the odd stares I was receiving from the palace staff.

Eventually, I stopped a palace guard, one of Celestia's Solar Guard by the look of him, for directions. He pointed me in the direction of the throne room, which fortunately wasn't that far away from where I was. I didn't waste any time in heading that way, thanking the guard for his help as I left.

Minutes later, I was at the large, ornate doors that signaled the entrance to the throne room. There was a guard posted to either side of the doors. "Excuse me, would either of you know if either of the princesses are available in the throne room?"

The guards looked to each other momentarily. "I'm sorry sir, but the Royal Court has been adjourned for the day; if you wish to speak to the princesses, you'll have to make an appointment."

My shoulders sagged at this news. "I'm sorry, but I really need to speak to them, it regards a matter that occurred in public involving one of them earlier this afternoon."

The guards looked to each other once again. "Alright, if it's that urgent, I'll show you to the royal sitting room; one or both of the princesses should be present there. Be warned, you'll be under constant surveillance during your visit unless we are commanded otherwise."

I nodded my understanding and the guard led me down a confusing string of twisting, turning corridors. After what felt like an eternity due to my desire to find Luna, we stopped in front of a single, plain wooden door. The guard knocked three times and we waited. After a moment, a voice from within called; "You may enter."

I waited outside while the guard entered, only to return momentarily. "You may see the princess now." He announced.

I stepped into the room, which seemed to be fairly cozy; there was a desk with a quill and inkwell, as well as several sheets of parchment resting upon it against one wall, while books lined the remaining walls and a plush pillow rested next to a white marble fireplace.

My focus was locked onto the occupant of that pillow, however. I approached, still unsure of where to start. The room's occupant was eyeing me expectantly, waiting for me to speak first. I managed to find my voice enough to croak out the being's name in a desperate tone.

"Celestia…"


End file.
